Phoenix Tears
by QueenBattousai
Summary: After a tough decision, I leave the BLitz Team. I end up finding a new job later, but have I stepped into hell?
1. Prologue

Phoenix Tears From the author of Phoenix Call and Phoenix Flame Erin Prazan  
  
Prologue  
  
The sun rose over the city of New York as thousands of children awoke from a deep sleep. But they had not fallen asleep on their own accord. They had been knocked out by a strong shockwave that had surrounded the planet.  
  
As they roamed the streets for the cause of the waves, they all notice one small flaw. There are no adults anywhere. They all have seemed to have disappeared mysteriously into thin air. Small babies begin to cry as they realize their parents aren't there to comfort them or feed them. Some of the younger children also begin to cry in fear that they might never be able to see their parents again, the older children trying to comfort them.  
  
A boy called Raven stands on the roof of his apartment, looking at the sky. He sighed and looked down at the city below and the new Twin Towers still unfinished against the horizon. "Well, we really are in a jam." He groans, looking into the sun rise. "It truly is, the Planet of the Children." 


	2. New Allies

Chapter 1 New Allies  
  
*Erin, Erin, wake up.* A hard nudging in my side brought me back to my senses as my organoid, Shadow desperately tried to arouse me after I had been knocked out by a shockwave that had toppled my Zoid. *Erin, come on, get up. The waves stopped.* I painfully raised myself onto my elbows, raising a hand and gingerly rubbing my head. I removed my hand to find a little bit of blood on my fingers from a cut above my left eye. I blinked away the blood and shakily stood up.  
  
Shadow took me back to where my Liger was laying, its command system frozen. "OK Shadow, you know what to do." I said, pointing to the Liger while I sat to rest on a rock nearby. With a roar and a snarl, Shadow unfolded his wings and shot into the air, turning into light and hitting the Liger in the side.  
  
A loud growl echoes through the desert as the Liger 007 gets to its feet shakily, shaking its head to clear the sand from the cockpit. Its white paint was scratched and sand had gotten trapped in its gears. It shook itself and roared a pained roar, looking around for me. I was still sitting on the rock in front of it, it probably couldn't see me beings my shirt was a dark sand color. "Hey Liger, down here you moron." Liger stopped looking around and its gaze landed on me, still sitting on the rock, picking sand out from under my nails.  
  
* * *  
  
Wind whipped past us as we raced at 200 kph through the Afghanistan desert. Liger had kicked on her, yes; her boosters to give us more speed beings we needed to get out of the desert as fast as we could. Liger kept growling in pain as the sand in her gears grinded against the joints in her legs. I had offered to stop several times to clean some of the sand out, but she insisted that we kept going. "Liger, I really think you should stop, if you damage your gears anymore you won't be able to run." Liger didn't listen, she was still running at a break neck pace, careful not to come across Taliban Sleeper Zoids.  
  
We raced for about an hour before my grumbling stomach could no longer be ignored. I made Liger stop and climbed out of the cockpit, Shadow close behind. *Why did you need to stop?* Asked Shadow as I started to build a fire.  
  
"Because, I'm starving, and I won't have any energy to fight if I don't eat something." I answered, pulling some camping cooking gear out from my pack. My head still hurt where I had hit it, even though the bleeding had stopped. "Hey Shadow, do me a favor and clean out Liger's gears. I'm afraid that her gears will be too far damaged if she ran anymore on them with sand caught in them." Shadow nodded and headed to the Liger, then reached up and used his claws to dig out the sand.  
  
* * *  
  
Erin quietly sipped her soup as Shadow finished cleaning Liger's gears. He didn't mind the work; in fact he rather enjoyed working while his boss was busy doing something else. Liger shook herself and roared a sigh of relief. *Feel better Liger?* Asked Shadow, wagging his tail as he began to wash the dishes with the canteen of water. Liger nodded and lay down beings they were on rocky, dry ground now.  
  
"Well, I'm done." I said, washing my bowl and stashed the rest of the gear in my pack. "Come on, we'd better get going before any Taliban or al Qaeda come after us." Both Shadow and Liger nodded and rose to their feet.  
  
* * *  
  
Liger raced across the desert again without pain, growling happily as the sun beat down. My stomach was now full thanks to that freeze dried soup I had for lunch. Shadow was happily flying next to us. As organoids couldn't stay fused with Ultimate X's for very long, Shadow flew next to us, ready to merge with Liger of need be.  
  
We continued to run well into the night until we decided that we were a safe distance near the Afghan border, some where near the village of Herat. I pulled out my map and looked at it as a fire burned merrily in front of me, Shadow fast asleep on the other side. "Hmm, we should be near were I lost the Genosaurer." I said to myself looking at the mark on the map where I had marked the grave of a trusted Genosaurer that had been destroyed about two weeks before. Shadow raised his head a few inches off the ground and growled, pointing behind me. I looked back to see I was sitting on its remains.  
  
The armor was burned totally black, beyond recognition. The still intact remains of the guns, which had been cut off by a Blade Liger's blades still lay nearby, unusable. I took a special pair of binoculars from my pouch and surveyed the damage. The Zoid Core was miraculously intact. A strong casing had been put around it to protect it if the Genosaurer was destroyed, so the Core could be out into another Zoid of need be as it turned out.  
  
Shadow let out a roar, causing me to fall backwards on my butt as Shadow strangely merged with the damaged Genosaurer. In a whirl of sand and dust, the Genosaurer was once again standing, its armor now shiny and new. The Liger roared a hello to the Genosaurer after Shadow remerged with it, getting a loud response. I smiled and patted Shadow on the head. Now he didn't have to fly the whole time and we had more protection against attacks. "Would be better of we had a Gustav to carry them on." I added, looking rather ticked that the closest base with one was twenty miles in the opposite direction. This time Liger walked off into the canyon where I had battled Malfoy and his cursed Blade Liger.  
  
She came back about an hour later, dragging a perfectly functional Gustav behind her. *I found it in the town.* She growled, *but I don't think anyone will be missing it. The whole population is children.* I narrowed my eyes coldly. So, the satellite dish did teleport the adults somewhere else so they wouldn't be able to stop bin Laden when he looked for me and destroyed most of the human race. *Master, I'm guessing there will be a war.* said Liger after several minutes' silence.  
  
"Yes Liger, there will be a war. A war to end all wars." I turned to Shadow. "Shadow, load the Genosaurer onto the Gustav. We're going to pay that village a visit." Shadow nodded and with a growl merged with the Genosaurer. Liger soon followed, glad that she no longer had to run.  
  
* * *  
  
The ride to the town was quiet, Liger didn't even make a sound the matter was so serious. Shadow rode in the Gustav with me, very quiet, which was quite unusual for the black organoid. Every now and then Shadow would growl quietly as we made our way to the village. We were about five minutes away when I could see smoke coming from the direction of the village. "Oh no! The children!" I cried, putting the pedal to the metal and the Gustav zoomed towards the village.  
  
The village was a raging inferno as I ran around with Shadow and Liger behind me. I was able to spot a boy lying wounded in the middle of the road. His back was burnt and broken and had a huge gash on his throat. I ran up next to him and flipped him over so he was facing me. "Who did this to you?" I asked in my best Arabic, trying to get every pronunciation right. Shadow hovered behind me, his blue eyes flashing dangerously as he looked around the village.  
  
"Red.Dragon.did.this." The boy was able to stammer. "A Red.Dragon that shot.a beam of.fire.from its mou." The boy's eyes rolled back in his head and he was soon limp in my arms.  
  
"Kid, don't die on me now! What's the Red Dragon?" I screamed in the boy's ears, but he was already dead. I lay the boy down on the road, and after saying a prayer for the Death Unicorns to have mercy on him, ran down the street towards a large building in the middle on the village. Shadow looked at the boy with sadness in his eyes. *He looks like Raven.* But the organoid said nothing else. He just growled slightly and ran off after me with the Liger in tow.  
  
* * *  
  
I finally made it to the building to see a Hel Cat and a Zaber Fang standing there. A boy and a girl stood at their feet, looking at the large stone building, which was the only building that didn't go up in flames. The doors of the building then burst open and two grey organoids came out with hurt children in their arms. The organoids lay the children gently at the boy and girl's feet and straightened.  
  
I decided it was best to sneak away to a better spot to watch them. But as I made my move, something slammed into me. In a second I was on the ground with one of the organoids sitting on top of me, my arms pinned underneath its feet. It was then did I get a good look at it. It was a metallic grey with non retractable wings that closely resembled Shadow's. Its eyes were a dark purple and were filled with malice as it stared at me.  
  
Then it pulled back its head and shot forward, its mouth open, ready to slash out my throat. I screamed bloody murder, but before the organoids fangs reached my neck, a black blur smashed into the organoid, sending it flying. I sat up to see Shadow standing over me, daring the other organoid to try and hurt me again. "Fury!" Called a male voice, getting the organoids attention. I looked to my right to see the boy walking up the hill. He looked to be around fourteen or thirteen, with messy greenish blue hair, and pale skin. He wore a pair of faded blue jeans, a white shirt, a leather biking jacket, which underneath he wore a white T-shirt, and black leather biking boots. Most of his face was hidden behind a pair of black visors. "Honestly Fury, don't you know how to treat a lady?"  
  
*Sorry Sam, but she was acting rather suspicious.*  
  
"That's because I didn't know if you were Taliban agents or not!" I snapped, "But beings you spared me, I guess I can trust you." I snapped my fingers and jabbed my thumb behind me, telling Shadow to fall back.  
  
"Sam what happened!" Called the girl as she came up behind Sam. She had rather long greenish blue hair, same as Sam, but I could see her eyes, which were a dark blue. She wore a faded denim jacket and blue jeans, along with a pair of black leather boots. A black T-shirt was barely visible from underneath her jacket.  
  
"Nothing Sarah, go help the kids." Sam answered, still looking at me.  
  
"They're dead." Sam remained silent. Another organoid was now standing next to Sarah. It was a stormy grey with a black mask around its evil looking white eyes. It emitted a small growl that sounded like it was pining. "Don't worry Bandit; there should be some survivors around here. I'm sure of it." Bandit just growled again.  
  
*There are no survivors.* Came Liger's soft voice. *All are dead.* My face remained set. I looked down at the ground. It was then did I realize what the "Red Dragon" was.  
  
"Geno Breaker." I muttered, still no emotion on my face. Sarah looked at me with a strange look on her face. But her eyes were rather calming to Shadow when he looked at her.  
  
*Do not worry about her little one. She is only deep in thought.* Shadow said calmingly, patting Sarah on the shoulder, who nodded back to him.  
  
"OH, we never really introduced ourselves." Said Sarah in a startled voice. "I'm Sarah Obscura, and this is Sam Polta. We're both twelve."  
  
I spun around when she said their ages. "Really? I could have sworn you were both thirteen." Sarah smiled and explained that they got that a lot. Bandit growled in agreement with Sarah. Sam had remained quiet this whole time, just staring at the burnt town. Fury seemed really unnerved as well, and their nervousness was beginning to spread to me. "Come on, there's nothing we can do here. Let's head to my Gustav." They all nodded and we walked to the transporter.  
  
* * *  
  
With their Zoids safely on the trailers, we set out towards the Iran border. The organoids traveled on the trailers with the Zoids so we humans could have some room to breath. It was silent most of the way, except for the occasional telling each other little tid bits about ourselves. We met no obstacles as we continued our journey. But as we came within walking range of the border, a band of Sleeper Molgas and Guysacks sprang up. "Oh great, Sleepers." I said angrily. I quickly gave the wheel to Sam and dove out to jump in to my Liger. A Guysack shot at me, knocking me off my feet. It was then did I remember I didn't have my medallion, the source of my magical power, with me, which meant I was in danger. "SHADOW!" I cried at the top of my lungs, calling the black organoid to me.  
  
Shadow unfolded his wings and came to my aid, taking me into his body and flew to the Liger. After safely depositing me in the cockpit, he merged with it. Liger was mobilized and ready to go, and with a roar, she sprung off the trailer and ran towards the Zoids.  
  
* * *  
  
I was doing a relatively easy and good job with the Guysacks and Molgas, but there didn't seem to be an end to them. And this wasn't the best place for that to happen as Shadow was beginning to lose power. "Come on Shadow, just last a few minutes longer." I urged the organoid, taking out six Molga's with a single Strike Laser Claw. I took out a few more Guysacks with the Triple Barrel Shock cannon on Liger's chest and the 50mm Tail Laser Gun that was fastened to the Liger's tail.  
  
*I'm trying to hold on, but the fight.I am becoming weaker.* Came Shadow's weak reply as Liger became slower and slower.  
  
"Come on Shadow, it isn't over yet. We have to stick to it!" I yelled, the energy gauge on the console going slowly down. "Come on! Keep it up! You're doing fine!" I cried encouragingly, but Shadow was fading too fast. Then with a groan, Liger's command system froze; all of Shadow's energy was gone. "Come on, wake up!" I cried desperately at Liger as the Molgas and Guysacks came rushing at me, firing all they had.  
  
A Guysack came up to the Liger, and was about to fire at the cockpit. "Liger! Wake up damn it!" I screamed, looking fearful at the Guysack, whose gun was aimed and ready to fire. "AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed, but before the Guysack could fire, a shot rang out from no where and blasted off the gun. I opened my eyes and looked over to see the Hel cat standing off the side.  
  
"Erin, get into the Genosaurer."  
  
I froze, it was Sarah. Bandit was standing on its head, looking daggers the Guysacks and Molgas. I could hear Sarah make a small evil sounding laugh and yell Bandit's name. "BANDIT!" With a roar, Bandit flew into the air and merged with the Hel Cat. "Alright Bandit, this is it! You ready to rock and roll?"  
  
"ROOAAAAARRRRRR!!"  
  
"Good answer." The Hel Cat growled and dashed forward, kicking on its Stealth Shield in the process. The Guysacks and Molgas became confused on why Sarah and the Hel Cat disappeared. They started shooting everywhere, almost hitting me in the process. Then, six Molgas fell, smoke billowing from their sides and sand kicked up past them. Something slammed into the sides of six others. I was so engrossed in the battle I didn't notice the energy gauge going up.  
  
* * *  
  
Around twenty more sleepers fell as Sarah shot them down, and all under three minutes. "Damn she's good." I muttered, my mind almost a complete blank as I was really engrossed in the battle, but was snapped back to reality when a loud roar echoed through the cockpit. "Liger! Sweet, you're up and running again. You too, Shadow." Shadow made a complimentary growl. Liger shot forward on its boosters and with a Strike Laser Claw, took down several Sleepers. Several more shots from both the Liger and the Hel Cat and all the Sleepers were on the ground, sparking.  
  
"Kick ass! I won my first battle!" Cried Sarah, punching a fist into the air.  
  
"Wow, if that was your first battle, you're pretty good."  
  
"Well, Sam and I had a lot of training, since we were seven." Explained Sarah as we stood at the foot of our Zoids, our organoids standing behind us. "We got our organoids from my father who is a researcher who studies organoids and Zoids. Might as well be good as our ancestor is Raven the Dark."  
  
Shadow growled. *My former master is your ancestor?*  
  
Sarah's eyes went wide with shock. "You mean you're the Shadow?" The organoid nodded and walked back to the Gustav, Liger, Bandit and the Hel Cat following. "Wow, it must be cool having the organoid of Raven the Dark." Sarah said.  
  
"Yeah, that and I have Reese's, Van's, and Hiltz's organoids, Zeke, Specular, and Ambient. Ambient is really my organoid, but he was sick and needs rest." I explained. "He's changed his tune since he was with Hiltz. He's a lot nicer then he was." Sarah smiled and took my hand, allowing me to lead her back to the Gustav.  
  
* * *  
  
When we arrived, Sam and the organoids were waiting with huge grins on their faces. "Alright Allies, are you ready to defeat the 'Axis' powers?" I said an equally big smile on my face.  
  
"Ai ai Captain!" They all said in unison. (Sorry, but I couldn't resist.)  
  
"I can't hear you!"  
  
"Ai ai Captain!'  
  
"OOOOOOOOOOOOh. who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"  
  
"Spongebob Squarepants!"  
  
"Who's absorbent and yellow and porous is he?"  
  
"Spongebob Squarepants!"  
  
"If nautical nonsense is something you wish."  
  
"Spongebob Squarepants!"  
  
"Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!"  
  
"Spongebob Squarepants!"  
  
(Organoids) *Spongebob Squarepants!*  
  
(Liger) *Spongebob Squarepants!*  
  
(Everybody) "Spongebob Squarepants!"  
  
(Me) "Spongebooooooooob Squarepaaaaaaaannnnntttttssss! Whoa that was crazy!" I said as they all burst out laughing. I laughed along with them, feeling very comfortable with them. They were friends, my allies. 


	3. Compromise

Chapter 2 Compromise  
  
"Mommy, I want some.Mars bars.Mommy." I muttered in my sleep. Sarah, Sam, Shadow, Fury, and Bandit were all curled in a ball together to keep warm during the cold Arabian night. Even though organoids were made of metal they were surprisingly warm. Sarah had her head resting on my side as we were both curled up in little balls. My head was snuggled into Sam's six pack. For a twelve year old, he was pretty muscular. The organoids were in a circle around us, only Fury was awake.  
  
*Shadow.Shadow, wake up.* Shadow rose from the ground as a wall of dust and sand began to rise in the horizon. *Taliban Molgas.*  
  
*How can you tell?*  
  
*My eyesight is very reliable. I can see distances far greater then those of even elves.* Fury explained, swishing his tail.  
  
*Which direction are they going?*  
  
*To the west.* Shadow remained quiet as he flew on to the Liger's head to get a better view. Sure enough, hundreds of Molgas were crawling through the desert sands. All of them with the Taliban symbol on the sides. *They are looking for something.*  
  
*Yeah, Erin. They've been after her for years. Why do you suppose we were in Afghanistan?* Asked Shadow as he landed next to Fury.  
  
*That's a good reason. I'm guessing you two were caught.*  
  
*Yep.* It was Fury's turn to be quiet as the Molgas passed by. A small growl caught their attention as Bandit adjusted himself around us. Shadow, now looking back at the passing Molgas, said to Fury, *It is good to have you back with me, my son.*  
  
*It is good to be back, Father.* Both organoids remained silent until the last of the Molgas passed and were out of sight, and when the sun reached out from the horizon.  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh, why'd you have to go and make things so complicated? I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else; it's getting me frustrated." The CD I had in the CD player of the Gustav was blarring on the speakers. Sam was fast asleep in the backseat as Sarah and I sang along with the music. The organoids were sleeping back on the trailers, each with their masters Zoids.  
  
Shadow adjusted his weight on his other side as the Gustav bumped around on the rocky ground. It was quite boring not being able to destroy anything, something he took great joy in. What could he say, old habits died hard. He stretched and raised his head to look out over the desert it was boring and dull, nothing to do, nothing to see. *Why does bin Laden want to save with worthless land, it can not be used.*  
  
*You are wrong,* Answered Liger, *The oil that the American's use is in these grounds. Why do you suppose the Americans helped Iran during the Cold War? Because they were protecting the oil resources.* Liger fell silent. Shadow continued his gazing out across the desert, he still thought of it as useless. But Liger had a point; humans needed the oil to survive as it worked their machines to grind grain, meat, and other things. Shadow growled, all the people who had died in Zoids, in the war, the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, had all died because of that heartless man. Shadow roared in angst. It was too terrible to even think about. This man did more destruction to people then he and Raven did back in their glory days. And it made him sick.  
  
Meanwhile, Sam had woken up from his slumber and was now singing with us, "Lay down, the threat is real, when his sight goes red again." Sam was bobbing his head to the music like I was, beings this was a kick ass song, 'The Red' by Chevelle. I had always wondered what they were singing about, as it sounded like they were singing about the communists.  
  
"Hey Sam, where did you want me to go again?" I asked, turning towards the boy.  
  
"There should be a town nearby with a working phone. You can call your team to get us some supplies. We're taking you to Zi to do a little training."  
  
"But what if."  
  
"Don't worry, bin Laden won't attack. The reason we are going to the next town besides the phone is that some Taliban representatives are there as well."  
  
"What!?! You're turning me in?"  
  
"Will you shut up and listen?" Shot Sam at me, cold malice in his eyes. It didn't take a lot to get him mad. "They have agreed to talk about the war and when it will start. All they need is your support and a signature." I didn't like to come so close to Taliban soldiers after I had destroyed numerous bases in the past. I stayed silent, not telling Sam about why I wasn't too thrilled about getting some compromising, but I decided to turn down the music and think about it until we arrived.  
  
* * *  
  
Shadow raised his head from its position and looked up to the Gustav. He could tell I was uneasy about something. He growled angrily as a town loomed into view. He could plainly see several Taliban Rev Raptors standing on the outskirts of the town. *What in Zi's name is Erin doing, taking us straight to those Taliban soldiers.* Shadow asked Liger, rather pissed off.  
  
*I dunno, maybe we're going into a battle. Get ready just in case she calls for us. It might be a trap, but we'll stay back just in case.* Shadow growled in agreement. This didn't look good, but if I was brave enough to go right into enemy hands, then God damn it, he was going to be right there beside me. He had faced more deadly enemies then the damned Taliban. Two armies had once been after him and Raven, doing everything in their power to try and stop him. But that was different then now. He had the Geno Breaker then, but now all they had was a Genosaurer, a Hel Cat, a Zaber Fang, and a Liger 007, plus three organoids.  
  
The welcoming party didn't look too pleased to see us, but they didn't go for their Zoids. Instead, they just stood there, looking at them menacingly. *These guys look like they mean business.* Said Bandit as he and Fury took a seat next to Shadow. Shadow nodded and continued to look at the passing soldiers, and he noticed. They were all adults. If the satellite had teleported all adults off the planet to special satellites circling the globe, wouldn't the Taliban be there as well? It didn't make any sense. But it was no use thinking about that now; they had to find out way I came here in the first place.  
  
* * *  
  
We stopped by a well in the middle of town to refill our canteens when several soldiers walked up to us. "We are looking for a Miss. Erin Prazan." Said one of the soldiers gruffly, speaking in perfect English.  
  
"I'm Erin Prazan." I answered curtly. I wasn't accustomed to being referred to that like I had been in the past. In the past, I was a regular girl with regular dreams of boys, nice cars, and growing up and having a family. But that had all changed when I had killed for the first time. "What do you want pal?" I asked in my most dangerous voice, daring him to try anything.  
  
"You are wanted in our main tent." He said, equally as evil sounded. "Please come with us." I beckoned the others with my head and headed in the direction they were heading. Shadow took his place next to me as we headed to the tent. I knew he didn't like it, the idea of being around these so called soldiers, but he went along with it if I did.  
  
"Alright, what'd ya want?" I asked them coldly as we entered the tent. I was not in the best of moods, as being around these soldiers made both Shadow and me nervous. "Well, answer me." The man who sat in front me looked me up and down, almost undressing me with his eyes, which didn't make me calm down at all. "You stop looking at me like that right now so I don't have to gouge your eyes out. Now tell me, why do you want me here?"  
  
"We wish to sign a treaty." That was all he said. I looked at him with tremendous confusion in my eyes.  
  
"A what?"  
  
"A treaty Miss. Prazan. A temporary treaty of course, only to say that neither side will attack one another until training is complete."  
  
"And how long are you giving us to train?"  
  
"One year."  
  
I started to think about it on the spot. He was giving us a whole year, one whole fricking year to train up? It was better then nothing, I mean, look what happened to Van after he was trained for a year. Plus now my team had three Ultimate Xs' on our side, Zoids that learned along with their pilots. But a year? Hell, it was better then nothing.  
  
"OK, where's a pen?" The man smiled and handed me a blue ink pen. As I scribbled my name down on the parchment, I was getting very glad that my shirt was long sleeved and high necked, as the guy continued to look at me funny. "Oh and pal. Treaty or no, I will cut off your manly hood of you don't stop looking at me like that, do I make myself clear?" The man nodded, his hand going slowly to his crotch. I smiled a satisfied smile and walked away, an almost mad happiness spreading across my face. "A year, huh? Well, it's best that we get started, hey Shadow?" Shadow growled. His eyes shimmered as he thought of going into battle again; he had missed it so much.  
  
* * *  
  
"Let's see, red wire goes into socket three, blue wire to socket six." I muttered to myself as I rewired the communications system in the Genosaurer. Shadow might have been able to repair an almost totaled Zoid in three seconds, but he didn't have enough sense to rewire the damn thing in the process. "Green wires connected to the red wire, and that's how it goes." I sang to myself.  
  
Finally, the rewiring was finished. I wiped my forehead with my sleeve and tapped a few buttons on the console. "Come on baby, get the signal through." A screen popped up in front of me with a progress bar charging up on it. "Come on, go through already." Fifty percent, sixty percent, seventy percent. It slowly rose up through the percentages. Eighty percent, ninety percent, done! "Finally." I sighed, tapping a few more buttons. A small ringing filled the cockpit, telling me my call was going through.  
  
"This is Scarlet Comet of the Phoenix Team. Please state your name, user number and."  
  
"Severus, shut your trap! It's me, Red Phoenix, you know, Erin." I snapped in Severus' direction.  
  
"Erin? Erin, is that really you?"  
  
"It ain't Shadow."  
  
"Erin, we thought you were dead!" Severus almost shouted through the speakers, causing me to almost go deaf. "What happened? Are you hurt, are you bleeding.?"  
  
"Shut up, I'm fine, now put Washu on. I need to talk to her." Severus nodded and saluted. A stand by screen came up with cheesy elevator music. *Why didn't I choose Rhythm Emotion?* I asked myself as Washu's familiar face popped up on the screen. "Hey Washu, what cooking?"  
  
"Pork Chops, that's what's cooking. How have you been? I see you came out from the waves OK." Said Washu, a smile on her face. I could see Ambient and Specular in the background next to a organoid pod. Washu followed my gaze and pointed at the capsule. "I see you noticed Ambient and Specular's new kid." Washu stated. "It should break open within the next few days. So, how can I help you?"  
  
"Washu, I need the Hover Cargo and my other three Zoids. I'm going to Zi with some new friends of mine to train for a while." Then I broke off and told her all about the pact I had made with the soldiers. After I finished, she was deep in thought. "Well, are you going to send them?"  
  
"I'll send them and Ambient. Shadow can stay with you, and I'll see if any other organoids wish to go with you." I nodded and thank you and asked her about everyone else. As she blabbed about everyone, Saria, Link, Zelda, the organoids, Severus, Domino, Team Rocket, I wondered how my boyfriend Giovanni was doing. Finally, when she got on the subject of him, Giovanni came within the range of the screen. Quickly I asked Washu to put him on, and in a matter if minutes, we were both talking to each other rapid fire. It felt good to hear the voices of old friends, and it would be even better to hear some new ones. 


	4. Planet Zi and Playing Cards

Chapter 3 Planet Zi and Playing Cards  
  
"I am a Zoid pilot of the wasteland; I am just making it up as I go. I am a Zoid pilot of the wasteland; I never know just where the dusty road will take me to." I sang as the Hover Cargo slowly made its way through the desert to the destination point that Sam had put into the database. Shadow was moving his head from side to side along with the song like a metronome. "Shadow, you goof." I laughed as Shadow made a soft growl. Sarah was in the hanger where the Hel Cat was doing some repairs on it with Bandit, and Sam was in his room burning CD's with Fury.  
  
*Do you think we will be able to get the training we need on Zi?* Asked Shadow, looking at me with his head cocked to the side like a dog.  
  
"I dunno, but I guess we're going to find out ol' buddy." I said enthusiastically as the door opened to reveal two red organoids. "Ah, Hiltz, Ambient, lovely for you to join us."  
  
*Likewise master.* Said the female organoid to Ambient's left. This was Ambient's new daughter, Hiltz, which he had named after his first master. She looked a lot like Ambient, except she had the cheek razors of Specular, the wings of Shadow, and the tail razors of Tigris, her grandmother. *How's your head?* I scratched the bandage over my left eye where I had been cut when Liger had been knocked over.  
  
"Never better. So, where's Specular and Saurer?"  
  
*In the hanger with the Liger 007. I guess they're talking about conversion armors for her.* Said Ambient, taking a spot right next to Shadow. *I mean, I know you want it to get stronger when we battle the Taliban in the war, don't you?*  
  
"Of course I do Ambient. I know the Liger will get stronger as it learns and gains some new armors." I retorted. "Besides, when have I let you down?" Ambient starts counting on his claws by tapping them on the floor. Erin knew he was counting the times she had let him down. He got to sixteen when she stopped him. "That was a rhetorical question." Ambient just winked and smiled, laying his head down on the ground. Hiltz, who got the joke, wouldn't stop laughing. I shot her a look that finally made her shut her mouth, but she still shook with silent giggles.  
  
* * *  
  
We finally sat down to eat dinner that night with Fury piloting the Hover Cargo through the desert. "Feed me, feed me!" Came the chorus of yells from both Sarah and I as we waited for Sam to finish making the burgers.  
  
"Come on Sam!" I called, still banging my spoons on the plate in front of me, Sarah doing the same.  
  
"We're starving!" We finished in unison, still banging the spoons.  
  
"You can yell all you want, but it's not going to make it cook faster." Sam shot back, checking on the burgers and adding cheese to the top. Sarah and I just kept banging the spoons loud enough to wake the dead. Sam was getting deeply annoyed by it and finally dished out the goods.  
  
As we stuffed our faces, Hiltz walked in with the phone. It was Zelda, the elven princess that had come to my team almost three months ago. "Hello Zelda, how are the repairs on your Redler coming along?" I asked the princess, referring to her Zoid that had been badly damaged when Ryoko and I had a huge fight and nearly totaled all the Zoids in the hanger trying the blow each other up. Zelda's Redler was one of the victims.  
  
"Its Zoid core is destroyed."  
  
"Oops, huh, really sorry to hear that Zelda. What are you going to do?" I asked, rather hesitant.  
  
"Don't worry about a thing. Washu gave me a new Zoid, a Hel Cat. And you know Link's Rev Raptor was destroyed also, well, he got a Green Blade Liger." I smiled and nodded a satisfied nod. It was good that the two of them were back on the battlefield again.  
  
"So Zelda, have you started training yet?" I asked stuffing a jarred peach into my mouth. Zelda didn't answer for a few seconds, as there was some yelling on the other side. Link had tried to look down her blouse, again.  
  
"Sorry, huh, yes in fact we started this morning."  
  
"Good. And you know, I want nothing but good reports when I return from my training on Zi, am I clear?"  
  
"Yes ma'am, Princess Panther out." We both hung up and I stuffed the rest of the peaches and burger into my mouth. Sarah and Sam finished a few minutes later, but it was too late. I had left the room, and it was said that the last one out of the dining hall, besides the cook, had to wash dishes. Well, Sarah bitched and moaned about it the whole twenty minutes she washed the dishes with Ambient's help.  
  
*Get used to It.* He said, drying a plate and placing it in the cupboard. *Erin's not only the bottomless pit, but she's also the fastest eater in the west.* Sarah smiled at Ambient's joke and washed the last of the dishes.  
  
* * *  
  
I was lying on my bed reading when Ambient walked in with a full bag of Sun Chips and a twelve pack of A&W Root beer. "Ambient, you are a god!" I said, ripping open the bag and grabbing a cold can from the box.  
  
*Game of Hearts or Skip Bo?* Asked Ambient, pulled the two decks out from his chest panels.  
  
"Skip Bo. I don't really remember how to play Hearts. Maybe some other time." I answered, taking the Skip Bo deck and shuffling them. A knock the door was answered by Sam and Sarah walking in with another bag of chips, this time Lays Potato Chips and French Onion Dip. (Yummy! I'm getting hungry just writing this.) Sam also brought in a boom box and popped in my Rock CD. As God Smack blared through the speakers, Fury, Bandit, Specular, Shadow, Saurer and Hiltz walked in, ready to play. I dealt out the cards and Sarah drew her five.  
  
* * *  
  
Our games lasted until midnight, which was the time Sam told everyone it was time for bed as we would be arriving at the Zoidian Portal in the morning. The organoids took the food back to the kitchen while Sam and Sarah went to bed and while I packed away the cards. Only Ambient stayed beings he usually stayed in my room. "I had fun. Thanks Ambient."  
  
*No problem.* He answered. *Just making sure you're enjoying yourself.* I kissed Ambient in the nose and changed, making sure Ambient had his back turned and his eyes closed and covered. I climbed into bed, turned on the heating comforter, and pulled the covers over my shoulders. It was silent in the rest of the Hover Cargo as the others and the Zoids settled down for the night. I snuggled into the pillow and closed my eyes, with Ambient hovering protectively over me.  
  
Ambient pulled the hair from my eyes with his claws, growling a soft lullaby as the Hover Cargo, being driven by Specular, continued to the vast desert. *.Where once was light, now darkness falls, where once was love, love is no more.*  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning dawned grey and drizzly. I was making pancakes and eggs when Sarah and Sam, both being dragged by their organoids walked in. "That smells good." Said Sarah drowsily as she sat down and rested her head on the table. "YAWN! Man we stayed up to late last night."  
  
"I had too much sugar. That root beer is like alcohol to me." Yawned Sam, slapping himself to get him awake. Fury and Bandit took their spots in the corner of the room next to Ambient, who was around to help me when needed. I smirked and shook my head.  
  
"Root beer has the same effect on me, too, Sam. That why I counteract with chips and dip to keep the sugar from totally taking over my brain." Sam was able to make a small laugh before breaking off into a huge yawn. "That reminds me, I think we drank that whole twelve pack last night." I said, looking over and tending to the eggs.  
  
Sarah yawned. "Damn, it feels like it." She said drunkenly as I spooned out the food. "I'm going to have a sugar hangover." We all laughed, and with a small cheer, we dug into our breakfast. "Damn Erin, you can make a mean breakfast!" Complimented Sarah, "This is delicious!"  
  
"Yes, my compliments to the chef!" Added Sam, clapping. I did the famous Italian finger kiss; the one used by Italian chef's when they serve the food and say it was magnifico. I got up and bowed, so low my hair almost got totally into my food. Sarah and Sam both laughed, now fully awake.  
  
We finished our breakfast and washed the dishes, Sam's turn as I had done the cooking and Sarah had ran out of the room before Sam even finished. Sure he complained about it, but I shut him up quick by threatening to starve him or punch him in the face of he didn't quit, which ever came first.  
  
* * *  
  
*Hey Erin, wake up.* I opened one eye from my afternoon nap when I saw it. We had just entered a huge cave, and glowing before me was the huge pink colored portal. *The Zoidian Portal.* Said Ambient, Specular and his two children on one side, his father, brother, and Bandit on his other. Sarah and Sam were on either side of me, watching as we came closer to the portal. The light grew so bright that we had to cover our eyes, making it so we couldn't steer, which Ambient saw this and quickly merged with the Hover Cargo.  
  
"Is it safe to open our eyes now?" I asked, feeling around for Sarah or Sam next to me. The strength of the light in my eye lids had died down, and I felt my stomach settle. I opened them and gasped. We were in a huge cave similar to the one we had been in just moments before. But as we exited through the cave entrance, I saw we were in a huge forest with gigantic trees.  
  
"Well.Welcome to Zi." Sarah said rather hesitantly as we slowly made our way through the maze of trees. The trees were taller then the Red Woods back home on Earth, at least by three times. I could see a rather large lake at the right of the Cargo, and with a short series of whistles, Ambient turned towards it. That would be the site for our hanger, the hanger of the Phoenix Team. 


	5. Ghost

Chapter 4 Ghost  
  
"Mien!"  
  
"Cohtei!"  
  
"Doh!" Came my yell as my Sienigh hit across Sam's bogu. We were training for our first battle by building our concentration in a match of Kendo. Sarah was sitting on the paw of her Hel Cat, watching as Sam made a perfect mien. "Damn it, so far he's ahead of me." I cursed, trying to hit his Cohtei. It wasn't easy, this kid was good. I desperately tried to hit his wrist again, trying to get a friggin' point, but, SMACK! He hit my mien. "CRAP!" I yelled, really getting aggravated.  
  
"It doesn't help to get mad, Erin-Chan." Said Sam in a laughing voice. "It will get you no where."  
  
"Oh, just shut up and let me hit you damn it!" I snarled, really getting ticked. Sam just seemed to think I would make stupid moves, so he put his guard down. That's what I wanted him to do. He wasn't expecting it, but when he had his sword down, swack! I hit his mien.  
  
"What!? But how?"  
  
"Ingenuity."  
  
"Shut up." I smirked, he didn't like to be hit, and I really didn't like to hit others, but when something really ticks me off they deserve a good thwacking. Sarah was laughing on the side lines, so hard that she almost fell of her Hel Cat. I could hear Liger roaring a laugh as well. I smacked another Cohtei, tying us in our little game. After we had taken off our bogu, a loud beeping could be heard. It was the com link, beeping to tell us we had a call. "Probably some other team trying to hire us." I said, laying my bogu down in the corner and tapping the talk button.  
  
It wasn't a team member at all; instead it was the Commissioner of the Zoid Battle Commission. "Phoenix Team, I would like to offer you a small job."  
  
"What's that sir?" I asked, looking very surprised, and very confused.  
  
"A strange number of mass unsanctioned battles have been taking place on the edge of the Juda Forest, the forest where you currently call home." The Commissioner explained, looking very stressed. "I would like you to investigate these battles."  
  
"It could be the Backdraft." Said Sarah, now standing next to me, "They always hold unsanctioned battles." The Commissioner just closed his eyes and shook his head. Sarah was rather surprised that her prediction was wrong, beings she had seen the Backdraft work. One thing she had never told anyone except for Sam, the organoids and myself was that her mother once worked with the Backdraft as a pilot. "How could it not be the Backdraft? Is there some other organization being created that we don't know about?"  
  
"No, nothing like that," continued the Commissioner, "all we know is that all the battles were against Class A and B teams, all against a single Zoid. And we're talking strange beings all the Zoids that were involved were all heavy duty Zoids like Konig Wolves and Dibison, all against the team of a single Silver Command Wolf." Now it was our turn to remain silent. A single Command Wolf?  
  
Command Wolves weren't really the best Zoid to be used alone, as they did have the greatest maneuverability and generally worked best in packs, like real wolves in the wild. "Here's another strange thing." Continued the Commissioner. "All the pilots have scanned the Command Wolf's cockpit to see the pilots face, but there was no pilot." That finished my thought. No pilot, pilots its self, never loses a match. Two answers, a remote control, or an organoid. Remote control was out of the picture because even with remote a Command Wolf wouldn't respond very fast and was very jerky. Only one conclusion.  
  
"It's an organoid, it has to be." I said aloud. "There's no way a wild Command Wolf would attack Teams and battle them, plus if a Zoid was under a remote control of some sort, it wouldn't respond well."  
  
"So you're saying our attacker is an organoid with a silver Command Wolf?"  
  
"Yep." The Commissioner looked thoughtful as he thought the suggestion over, probably wondering if any organoids, besides our own, even existed. "One more thought Commissioner, was there a special time that this Command Wolf attacks?"  
  
"Yes, always on dark, misty nights, giving the Command Wolf a bit of a silver, ghostly glow."  
  
"That's all, thank you Commissioner." I said, saluting as the screen went blank.  
  
"So, are we going after this 'ghost' Command Wolf?" Asked Sam, looking very pissed that he hadn't been included in the conversation. "I mean, if it's a ghost, it'll be pretty hard to catch."  
  
"It's not really a ghost, numb nuts. It's a white Command Wolf that glows in the moonlight to make it look like it's a ghost." I said, rather harshly. "Besides, now that we have a job, I expect that we are ready tonight. It should have the conditions that the 'ghost' likes tonight. So get a good nap and meet me here before dinner to discuss our plan."  
  
"Right." Sarah and Sam said in unison, saluting and walking upstairs.  
  
* * *  
  
Liger stood impatiently on a cliff over looking the battle field that the Command Wolf was supposed to appear. Sam was in plain view of the Command Wolf, while I was over heard, hiding behind a large deposit of rocks and Sarah was hiding in her stealth shield.  
  
Ambient growled impatiently at Liger's feet, watching for any sign of the Command Wolf. All of a sudden, the unmistakable growl of a Command Wolf came from deep within the woods, slowly coming closer and closer. "Liger, magnify the area in the direction of the growl." I ordered my Zoid, who growled and zoomed in on the area. It was the Command Wolf, but it wasn't alone. A white Zaber Fang was running next to it. "Looks like Wolfy got himself a partner." I said, "Well, we'll just have to take them both out. Sam, Sarah, the Wolf has teamed with a Zaber Fang. This isn't going to be as easy as we thought."  
  
"Right." Answered Sarah, sounding like she was totally ready.  
  
"Roger that." Replied Sam, a little too calmly. The answer from the organoids was nothing more then a bunch of eager growls. I gripped Liger's controls and stared ahead, out towards the Zaber and Wolf. "Sarah, Sam, go for the Command Wolf, don't worry about the Zaber Fang. I'll take care of it."  
  
With a roar, Liger shot off the cliff and landed on the Zaber's back. The Fang started bucking around like a bronco, trying to fling me off. Liger's claws were too deeply puncturing the Zaber's armor to be flung off so easily, and with a mighty jerk of her head, Liger had her jaws around the Zaber's neck, slicing at the wires and gears. The Zaber however was smarter. It flipped onto its back, causing us to land on our backs, hard. Liger and Ambient were dazed for several seconds before I was able to get Liger back to her senses and back at the Zaber, who was helping the Wolf, who was having a bit of trouble with Sarah, who, as it turns out was nicknamed the Wildcat, and for good reason. She was totally tearing into the two Zoids, Sam had long since quit battling to just watch her fight, and Sarah was doing rather well on her own.  
  
*Kinda makes you wonder.* Ambient said, emerging from the Liger to save his strength.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
*If she's human, or if she's demon.* Answered the organoid, scratching his neck. I groaned and rolled my eyes. But we didn't have long to watch, the Zaber finally got the upper hand and put Sarah out of commission. *Let's roll!* Cried Ambient, merging with Liger and shooting forward to battle. Sam had reached the Wolf first and succeeded in ripping off its head. The Wolf fell to the ground, and a beam of white light shot from what looked like the heart area of the Zoid.  
  
"Ha! I was right!" I said, spotting the light land not too far away to reveal a solid white organoid with blood red eyes, razors running down its back and bird like wings, almost like an angel. "Hey Zaber!" I yelled at the Zaber Fang, causing it to turn around just as I was running towards it. Liger's eyes and claws glowed as its main attack gained strength. "Say hello to my little friend, the STRIKE LASER CLAW!" I screamed, leaping into the air, slicing off the Zaber's front leg. The Zaber roared in angst, but the pilot wasn't done.  
  
"GHOST!" Came a rather pissed off male voice from the cockpit, calling which must have been the organoids name as it merged with the Fang pretty quick. Almost in an instant the Zaber's leg was once again intact.  
  
"What the fuck!" I yelled, watching as the Zaber ran forward. A small beeping caught my attention as Ambient's power meter slowly began to grow small. "Ambient, emerge from the Liger, get back your strength, I'll take care of the Zaber myself." Ambient did as he was told and landed not too far away, right next to Sarah's downed HelCat, which had taken quite a beating. Liger shot forward again, once again charging her Strike Laser Claw in an attempt to down the Zaber again. The Zaber as well shot forward, also charging a Strike Laser Claw.  
  
"STRIKE." Cried the Zaber pilot as he neared me.  
  
"LASER." I cried, keeping Liger steady as she ran forward.  
  
"CLAW!" We yelled in unison, our Zoids leaping into the air, almost as if they were flying, but instead of slicing claws digging into metal, the two Zoids smack into each other, and were ricocheted into the air. Soon the Zoid flew apart, with damage to their chests, and landed hard on the ground opposite each other.  
  
"This is it," Said Sam as he brought his Zaber Fang next to Sarah's damaged HelCat, "who ever stands up is the winner."  
  
"I know, but that was an intense battle." Answered Sarah, climbing out from the cockpit as Bandit emerged from the Cat. They both watched for a while, wondering which Zoid would gain the most strength to get up on its feet. But, their patience finally paid off when both Zoids shakily got to their feet and faced each other. "They're both up!" Said Sarah, disbelieving." But.but even the Liger wouldn't have been able to recover from that kind of attack."  
  
"Maybe it's no ordinary Liger." Answered Sam, jumping down next her, Fury landing on his other side. "Maybe it's the one, an Ultimate X."  
  
"You think it is?"  
  
"All the evidence points in that direction. Didn't Erin say once that she has conversations with the Liger? That means that the Liger is permanently merged with an organoid, causing it to have telekinetic powers." Sarah remained silent as the two Zoids continued to stare each other down. Then, she got an idea.  
  
"Ambient, merge with the Liger now." Ambient nodded and shot off into the sky. He turned into a beam of light and merged with Liger, causing her joints to glow red and her armor to heal.  
  
"Whoa, thanks Ambient." I said, wiping my forehead of sweat from relief. "Let's get going, I don't want the Zaber to catch us off guard, even if it is damaged." Ambient and Liger both growled in agreement and Liger shot forward, charging her Strike Laser Claw. The Zaber, whose chest didn't seem to be healing well, was too slow and jerky now to move anywhere. It was pitiful to watch the Zaber wait for the final blow, for the Claw to rip through its armor like paper, but this "warrior" was through pulling other teams into unsanctioned battles. Liger leapt into the air, pulling her paw back, and with a great roar, all three of us yelled, "STRIKE LASER CLAW!" The pain filled cry of the Zaber as the Claw ripped through its metal hide filled my ears. It was pitiful, like the Zaber had just lost something it had needed to survive.  
  
"Ghost, emerge. Finally after two years we've been beaten." Said the pilot of the Fang telling his organoid, Ghost, to leave the now silent Zaber Fang. Ghost emerged and the cockpit opened to reveal a man in a brilliant white battle uniform. It was made of white leather with a load of silver buckles and attachments, which in the misty air made him glow, ripped artistically in several places with some red stains, making him look as if he was dead. He wore a white helmet with a red visor which gave him an evil look. Two charcoal grey sideburns were visible against his pale skin. "You, warrior, show your self. I want to meet the man who defeated me."  
  
Liger opened her cockpit and I jumped down, Ambient next to me. "Hey, who are you and why are you battling these illegal fights?" I asked coolly as the man marveled at the fact that I was so young. He didn't answer right away, but I knew he was surprised about something besides the fact I was a teenage girl and that I was a better pilot then he was.  
  
"My name.is Major Marcus Ketchum." He said, taking off his helmet to reveal a young man with a strong chin, thick charcoal grey hair, and grey eyes.  
  
*Impossible, I heard from Prozen himself that you had been killed at Mt. Ossa.* Answered Ambient, looking downright stunned. *Plus that was over four thousand years ago, how did you survive?* Marcus seemed to be pondering his answer because he was silent for a few minutes.  
  
"I guess all I can say to answer that is I didn't. I was killed in the explosion, but a good thing about High Priests is that they can be reborn, back into their own bodies if they were the Priests of the legendaries or the gods." Marcus answered, stopping for a moment to enjoy the shocked look on my face. "I was once the Priest of Siriushotep. Prized for my knowledge of rare beings such as organoids or certain types of unicorns." I was silent through his story, perplexed that this man had once been a priest of a god, a demi-god, but a god all the same. "I had been sent adrift after the sages were transformed and traveled to several planets before I made my living here, every now and then traveling to Earth to conduct some research then return home. But it is good to see you again, Prazanaznis." I just stood there, stunned. He was connected with me? "And before you ask, I would like to tell you why I was battling like this, dragging people into unsanctioned fights.  
  
"You see, I was once part of the Zoidian army for the Empire, but I was fired you see because of the fact that I would occasionally be dragged into fights against other soldiers. Well, it would have been fine to become a mercenary and gain money from traveling from team to team, except I'm a married man with two kids barely the age of five. You would think that mercenaries would be paid rather nicely for their work but they aren't very trusted yet, and the fact of my family well. I can't support them like I used to be able to when I was a soldier." We were now sitting on a huge bolder nearby, listening to his story, when I realized something.  
  
"Hey, you can come stay with us, we can become mercenaries together!"  
  
"But what about a job?"  
  
"No problem, in fact, we have a job lined up right now, with someone called the.Blitz Team.I think." Answered Sarah thoughtfully.  
  
"Yeah, it was Steve Toros who called us yesterday and asked if we could battle on his team for a while, just until they get within range of Class S." Sam answered, only his lips moving, his voice in a monotone. "From what I hear they're pretty OK team, but they all have kids around Marcus' kids' age, the youngest is four and the oldest is eight, Leon I think his name was." I was still silent, my mind too busy thinking about the Geno Breaker, only so that I would catch tidbits of conversation between the others.  
  
*Uh, Erin, are you OK?* Asked Ambient, looking at me rather strangely.  
  
"Wha.Oh, no, I'm fine.Sarah, I think you're right, we'll let them stay with us." I looked back over at Marcus. "Welcome to the team, Ghost." 


	6. The Blitz Team and the Dagger Sisters

Chapter 5 The Blitz Team and the Dagger Sisters  
  
A blue Whale King flew across the starry sky to a hanger on the edge of the desert. The two twelve year olds, Sam and Sarah, were asleep on a couch in the main control room; next to them slept a five year old girl named Maylynn, and in the chair across from them sat a young brown haired woman named Delia, quietly dozing with her one year old son, Ash in her arms. My head was beginning to droop as Marcus manned the controls, a comfortable Ghost sleeping on the floor at his feet. All the other organoids, besides Ambient of course were in the hanger where they sleep. Ambient was standing protectively next to me, his eyelids dropping tiredly themselves. It was late and we still hadn't gotten to the Toros hanger yet, because Marcus didn't bother to buy a god damn map.  
  
"Men, you can't really blame them for being them," I said, trying to stifle a yawn, "but dammit you can sure try."  
  
"Oh will you be quiet, we'll be there within the next half hour."  
  
"You mean we weren't lost?" I asked sarcastically, propping my feet up on the console in front of me.  
  
"That's right; it's supposed to take this long. Now be patient, we'll be there soon." He snapped back reminding me of the stubborn power crazed soldier he had been. "Now get some sleep," he said, a little more father like, "it's been a long day." I took his advice and covered my eyes with my sunglasses and closed them. For a while all I saw was the back of my eye lids, not really sleeping, but dozing. Ambient had finally decided to zonk out as well, collapsing on the floor with a great big clank, and I could hear him snoring happily away, dreaming of the good old days.  
  
After about twenty minutes I guessed, I opened my eyes and looked at my watch, ten minutes to midnight. Ambient was still in a coma like sleep on the floor, breathing steadily. "There it is." Marcus said gleefully, "I told you it would be here." I shot him a dirty look and looked out the control room window to see a huge hanger in a gorge, nicely tucked underneath a nature made bridge of rock. "Toros Ranch, it's been ages since I was here." Marcus continued ranting, looking fondly out of the window. I shot him a glance to shut him up and walked over to walk up the others, but Sam was already awake.  
  
"I was wondering when that buffoon was going to get us here." He said smartly, making me want to smack him across the face.  
  
"Dude, shut up and help Marcus wake up the others; I'm going into the hanger to get the organoids and Zoids ready." I answered back hotly, pointing to the others. "I want them up when I get back." And with that, I walked out of the room.  
  
As I walked down the hallway, I knew I had been a little harsh, but that's what you get when you mix PMS and having lack of sleep. I felt even more drozy then a few minutes ago and was ready to climb into a nice warm bed. The organoids were all still asleep when I walked into the hanger. Out of the fact that I was bored and was slightly in a bad mood, I decided that giving them a bad wake up call would get me into a good enough to mood to at least make it to my room. "Time to get up children." I said quietly, the organoids still sleeping, "GOOD MORNING!" I shrieked as loud as I could, scaring the crap out of every organoid there, which I think I also scared Liger out of her mind. What made it even funnier was the fact that Hiltz must have jumped at least twenty feet into the air, screaming bloody murder. "MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed, doing my best impersonation of Invader Zim. "Foolish humans, you really think you can deceive the power of an extraterrestrial being? MUWAHAHAHAHA!"  
  
I continued laughing for quite some time until a tap on my shoulder snapped me back to reality, causing me to turn around. "Hello, you must be Erin." I turned to face a young mother with long brown hair and purple eyes. Purple eyes? That's something new. I said to myself, just looking at her. I nodded and turned my body towards her. "I'm Tia Toros; I'm the wife of your employer, Steven Toros. He would have been here to greet you himself, but my big oaf of a husband can't stay up past ten, poor dear." I gave a sort of soft snort of amusement, taking what she said was funny. She giggled a moment before leading me to the base, where two others were waiting for us.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't the Wild Eagle and his wife Thunder Bison." Marcus said teasingly to the couple as they came into the light. The man who Marcus referred to as the Wild Eagle was a man by the name of Oscar Hemeros. He had short, spiky black hair and grey eyes and he was tall and strongly built with broad shoulders. He wore a worn out T-shirt underneath a worn leather bomber jacket with the crest of the 'Wild Eagle' on the back. A pair of bomber goggles rested comfortably on his head, and his large hands were stuffed into the pockets of his faded blue jeans stained with Zoid grease.  
  
His wife, the Thunder Bison, was the total opposite of her husband besides gender. The way she acted, dressed and looked were totally different. She had long golden red hair that was down and flowed over her shoulders and back, setting off her emerald green eyes. Her body was the perfect shape, not too thin not too fat, an hourglass shape somewhat. She wore a white puffy sleeved blouse and a long navy blue skirt that reached her ankles. A pearl necklace stood out against her pale, porcelain skin, like a china doll. I had heard rumors about the Thunder Bison when I had stopped in bars to get some food. I heard that she was a reckless and very good Dibison pilot, the heart of a demon said some, and the soul of a wildcat. This woman looked the total opposite. Looking at her smile sweetly at me, I could have sworn she was a different person entirely.  
  
"Welcome," Said Annie Hemeros, one of our new hostesses, "we know it isn't much but this hanger is our home. Please make yourselves comfortable." Tia was standing next to Annie now, showing that in the brighter hanger of the Toros base that her hair was actually a dark red, a little darker then my friend Suzy's hair.  
  
"I'd just be happy getting into a bed." Moaned Sam loudly, maybe a little too loudly. Annie and Tia just smiled.  
  
"I figured you'd be tired." Tia laughed, beckoning towards the door leading to the main house. "Come, we'll show you to your rooms." Sam wasn't the only relieved team member, Marcus, Delia, Sarah, the organoids, Maylynn, Baby Ash and I were all looking practically falling over with wariness. The organoids were taken to a room that was prepared for them next to where Oscar had his Reynos parked, all except Ambient, who was a little too over protective of me. "I guess your main organoids will be staying with you I am guessing." Tia said a laugh in her voice and a song in her eyes. We nodded, and the other organoids were sent to the room.  
  
Ambient, Bandit, Fury, and Ghost followed suite as we walked down the nicely furnished hallways of the Toros base. I was so tired I was singing "We Didn't Start the Fire" and singing it wrong. And for me, that's strange. I know the whole song by heart. I was able to stagger into the room Tia helped me to and collapsed on the bed. Ambient took my shoes off for me, as I had already fallen asleep on the over stuffed mattress and pillow. It was the most heavenly bed I had ever slept on, more comfortable then my bed back home. By the time Ambient had turned off the light, I was in a nice little ball, purring like a kitten kinda. Ambient climbed up on the end of the bed, curled into a ball, and closed his eyes. My soft breathing welcoming him into a deep sleep. With a final heave of breathe, Ambient fell into a peaceful sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
"Erin, uh Erin, Errrriiinnnnnnn? HEY ERIN!" Try as she might and how loud she could yell, Sarah was having a bit of trouble trying to wake me the next morning. "Erin, hello?" Sarah pried again, poking me with the end of my Shinigh, only succeeding in turning me over onto my stomach. What is with her? Complained Sarah to herself, swinging the bamboo sword onto her shoulder and scratching her chin.  
  
"Having some trouble?" Sarah turned to see a burly young man with thick brown hair and kind brown eyes. It was Steve Toros, the leader of the Blitz Team. He too had a Shinigh over his shoulder and wearing a HakubaGi, the uniform used by Kendoists. "Maybe I can help." Sarah nodded and stood to the side, allowing Steve to lower his Sienigh down to my head. With some concentration, he slowly lifted my head, and with a nice loud voice shouted the most wondrous words to my ears. "ERIN, WE HAVE EGG MCMUFFINS!" In a spilt second I was off the bed and pelting down to the kitchen, which Tia never showed us where it was last night, ah, the wonders of my nose.  
  
With a screech, I halted at the doorway and spied a bag full of Egg McMuffins in which Sam was waving over his head. With a lunge, I grabbed the bag and ran to Liger, jumped into her cockpit, closed the hatch and unwrapped the juicy goodness of the egg, Canadian bacon and cheese on an English muffin breakfast sandwich. "They're mine, they're all mine!" I said, counting a least twelve of the sandwiches in the bag. Egg McMuffins were to me as my goddess mother Ra was powerful, and that is a pretty strong love right there baby.  
  
* * *  
  
The bag filled with sandwich wrappers lay at my feet as my stomach savored the last tasty morsels of the Egg McMuffins. (I know, I'm crazy, but hell! I love Egg McMuffins!) Steve and Oscar had finished breakfast ages ago and were now attempting to do some repairs to their Zoids. "That was pretty clever with the Egg McMuffins this morning, Steve. How did you know that she was crazy about them?"  
  
"I tipped off Ambient. We know she probably wouldn't as she'd be getting her favorite food in return." Both men just laughed as I continued to just lay there in Liger's hanger. I let them talk, I didn't really care. The time I had in Liger was a good time to look at the Zoids the Blitz Team had. I already knew Oscar had his Reynos; it wasn't that hard to figure out. Steve was working on a customized Shield Liger which stood next to the green flying type. Tia and Annie's Zoids were on the other side of the hanger, a customized Dibison and Lightning Saix. Several Gustavs were on the other side of the hanger, ready for use if the team was called away for a battle.  
  
"Hey Erin!" I looked down at Liger's feet to see Tia at the bottom with a six year old girl and an eight year old boy at her sides. I leapt down from Liger's cockpit and landed in front of them. "I was going to go to the marketplace in town and wondered if you would like to come with." Tia said, holding up her purse.  
  
"Heh, sure, why not?" I answered, shrugging and wrapping my hand around the money pouch full of gallos, Zoidian money, which I had collected from the Ghost fiasco a week before. Tia smiled and led her two kids to the jeep that was parked near the hanger entryway. I followed quickly after them, not wanting to be left behind.  
  
* * *  
  
The marketplace was jam packed with people when we arrived in the old jeep twenty minutes later. Leena, the girl, had fallen asleep on my lap on the way here, which unfortunately led to the unconsciousness of my leg. The first thing that happened when I stepped out of the jeep was me falling flat on my face from lack of feeling from my leg. "Hahaha, Erin, are you, hahaha, OK?" Tia laughed, helping me to my feet. Leena and her brother Leon were laughing too, unaware that it was rude to laugh and point, but they were just kids so I didn't give them a whole lot of grief.  
  
"I'm fine, come on, I want to look around." I said, covering up my embarrassment from the fall. Tia just smiled and shook her head, and with a laugh, took the kids hands and followed me to the market. Everything was just so interesting it was hard to keep the spending demon half of myself bay. We passed shop after shop, and I was afraid to stop and look at anything in fear of getting separated from Tia and the kids.  
  
"Oh, Erin, look over there." Tia pointed to a shop in front of me, titled Dragon's Cove. I wondered what the store had, so I asked if we could go in. "Sure we can go in, I want to look around and see of they got anything of interest myself." I stepped into the nicely scented shop, happy for the air conditioning for my long sleeved shirt, the same shirt I wore when I was terrorizing Afghanistan, was making me incredibly hot. One look told me everything to know about this place, I was in weapon heaven. Samurai swords, saiy, num-chucks, throwing stars, every weapon I wished to own was in that store. On the other side of the store, a woman sold different daggers and switchblades. Another woman surprisingly sold oriental perfume and many different types of jewelry. "Wow, this stuff is pretty cheap." Tia awed, looking around at the prices of the many different weapons and other miscellaneous items.  
  
"Our father is rather rich and supports us." Gloated one of the sisters, waving a hand full of gold rings and bangles. "We wanted to go into business to sell these things our selves like our father did, so he told us to sell them at cheaper prices then most people would think." I nodded and continued to look around, until I spotted a rather nice dagger in the counter case in front of the woman who had spoken earlier. It was the most impressive dagger I had ever seen. It was a duel blade dagger, a curved edge blade on each end. The cutting parts were facing opposite ways from each other, and it had a leather hilt with gold trim in the middle. There were engravings on the blades, looking to be in Gaelic designs, or was it Elf? "Ah, I see you've noticed our most sought after the blade, the Duel Death Dagger." Said the sister, "Impressive, yes?"  
  
"Very." I muttered back. "How much?"  
  
"A hundred gallos. Very cheap for a much wanted blade. Best deal in town."  
  
"I want to look around the store more first, I want to see if there's anything else of interest." I answered, looking away from the blade. I had chosen a crystal necklace, a small jeweled dagger, and a bottle of perfume before I finally paid for the Duel Death Dagger.  
  
"You made a fine choice young lady." Complimented the sister in charge of the perfumes. "But, out of curiosity, may we see the sword on your back?" I was taken aback from her question. I had forgotten I had taken my broad sword, my sacred sword along with me. I took the sword and sheath from my back and laid it on the counter top. The sisters marveled at the workmanship of the sheath, which was made from blue dragon hide, etched in gold and bound together with unicorn mane hairs, which looked as soft as silver but strong as twine. The strap of the sheath was made from the hide of a Valley unicorn, the same unicorn that supplied the hairs for the binding. The Dagger sister grasped the golden handle shaped as a phoenix and pulled the sword out, marveling on the expert workmanship of the blade and hilt. The hilt they marveled first. The handle was the phoenix's neck and was wrapped in dragon leather; the end of the handle was the phoenix's head, which had a red ruby in its mouth. The sword guards were the phoenix's wings. The blade was polished steel, Egyptian engravings decorating the sides of the blade, which usually light up as a light blue color when I wielded it.  
  
"Excuse me, but what does the writing say on the sides of the blade?" Asked the perfume sister, whose name was Keadane.  
  
"The daughter of Ra will banish thy evil and bring good to the world, for from the heart comes strength and wisdom." I recited, running my fingers over the lettering, causing them to glow blue.  
  
"This is truly a fine blade." Said Keadane's sister, Kagomena. "A very fine blade."  
  
"One question," I said, taking out the Duel Dagger from its sheath and holding it out, "what kind of design is this?"  
  
It was Keadane who answered after several minutes. "A young man by the name of Zephyr Elvenwood brought it in. He said he was a part time blade smith who was hoping to help our business out by giving us some blades to sell in our shop. He said the design was a mixture of elvish and a type of earthen design called Gaelic." I nodded my thank you, took my sword back and walked out of the store, my shopping bag in one hand, and my new dagger in my other as I admired it.  
  
"I think those sisters were rather interesting." Tia said as we continued down the street. "I think we should visit them more often." I nodded my approval and put my dagger back in its sheath. 


	7. Backdraft

Chapter 6 Backdraft  
  
It had been a week since I had first met the Dagger Sisters in their quaint little shop in the marketplace. Tia and I usually went back to visit once and a while to see how their business was going and to get supplies to keep our daggers and swords in mint condition. But our real adventures didn't start until the following week, while I was returning from some part salvaging which I took to as a hobby after I joined the team. The parts I had salvaged from the site of a recent battle moved around noisily in the back as I drove down the bumpy rode to look for more parts. I had spotted a battle on my way to my last spot and had decided to check the spot out after I was done to see of the battle was over with some good parts left behind.  
  
Fate was on my side as I parked next to the Judge capsule's crater and jumped out. I could spot a downed Zaber Fang and a bunch of old parts scattered around everywhere as I made my way to the center of the battle ground. Careful not to be spotted by the pilot if he or she was still in the cockpit of the Zaber, I quickly began stripping parts from the exterior of the Zoid, picking only the choice ones. I had just pulled some gunnery control wires from the neck when I noticed a rather strange box embedded in the Zaber's neck. Upon all of the repairs on Sam and Marcus's Zabers I had noted that they didn't have this box in them. But our Hel Cat did. It was a Stealth Shield Generator, and these had been banned in Zoids unless it was the Hel Cat or was used for the Zoidian armies. But what was it doing in a Zaber Fang? Out of curiosity, I pulled the Generator out from its resting place and carried it to the truck with several other parts.  
  
As I dumped the parts in the back of the back of the old pick up Oscar had loaned me for the job, I was able to take a glance into the crater. What I saw shocked me. A huge black ball about twenty five times the size of Sputnik was at the very bottom, resting on what appeared to be the remains of a white judge capsule. I could see movement at the bottom, and with a leap, I skidded to the bottom. I ran towards where I had seen the movement to come face to face with a judge, his power running low and was very much damaged. {Help.me.} With some strain I was able to pull the Judge out from the wreckage. {Thank you.} The Judge was able to compute as I took out my tools and began to repair it. {That ball came out of nowhere and smashed me. All I remember is another Judge capsule falling not too far from me, but it was black.}  
  
"It must have been the Backdraft." I said, unscrewing a section of his head and replacing chips. "Only they have those Dark Judges."  
  
{You must have been a prisoner of them.} Answered the Judge, his voice sounding clearer as I repaired and replaced chips. {This is the first time it has ever been documented that the Backdraft Group used a type of Judge.}  
  
"I guess you can say that I have ways of finding out these things." I answered, finishing the work on his head and working on his arms next.  
  
{How so?}  
  
"A friend of mine's mother worked for the Backdraft a long time ago and they were talking on the Judge project when she left."  
  
{Why didn't she notify the authorities about it?}  
  
"Must have not realized that they had the technology and the money to pull off a stunt like that." The judge remained silent until I finished my repairs and dragged him up the side of the crater. I helped him into the passenger seat of my truck and climbed into the driver's side. "OK, next stop, the Zoid Battle Commission Judge Satellite Command Center." And with a turn of a key, we were on our way. What I didn't realize when I drove away from the sight was that the Zaber pilot had emerged from her hiding spot and had planted a tracer on my truck. In fact she held a little walkie talkie in her hand, contacting her leader.  
  
"This is Flame Tiger calling Altair..."  
  
* * *  
  
"Thanks again for bringing the Judge back to us." Thanked the soldier who had met us at the gate. "We wouldn't have known what to do if we knew we had to replace one."  
  
"Are they that pricy?" I asked, rather surprised that someone had been worried about a humanoid machine used only for judging Zoid battles.  
  
"Zoid battles are the only reason the ZBC stays alive, without them, people wouldn't have work. Zoid Judges had been built to keep battles under control and help the pilots follow the rules, therefore keeping them from getting hurt and or killed." Explained the guard as I helped him put the injured Judge onto a repair table. "If pilots start getting killed everyday, people would be too afraid of Zoids and would quit, therefore, people in the ZBC would lose their jobs because there was nothing to try and supervise."  
  
*Wow.* I thought as the guard started talking to the repair man at the base. *I didn't know Judges were so important in the Zoid world. If people didn't pilot Zoids, then they would become wild and would have no use in the world. And if that was so, then they would be destroyed without a second thought in their direction.* I remained silent for some time as I helped the repairman repair the Judge, giving him the low down every once and a while on the damage I saw on the capsule itself.  
  
* * *  
  
The truck bounced along the dirt road as I continued on my never ending quest for abandoned Zoid parts. I hadn't driven very long when I noticed a young woman a little older then me waving me down next to a rather nice red convertible. I stopped behind her and jumped out of the truck, eager to help with anything. "Oh, thank goodness you stopped by." She said in, strangely, an American Southern accent. "My car broke down here on this little ol' highway an hour ago and I was so worried I would be missing my meeting. Do you think you could give me a lift?"  
  
"Why of course ma'am, I'll even tow your car to a repair shop on the way." I said, tipping the cowboy hat I was wearing in her direction, pointing back to my truck.  
  
"Oh, why thank you. I was so worried for a moment that like so many teenagers these days you wouldn't help me."  
  
"Oh, you wouldn't have to worry about that ma'am," I said, waving my hands in front of me, as if to stop a bully from punching me, "I'm not like other teenagers, trust me." I motioned back to my truck. "Hop in; I'll get you to town in time for your meeting." I bent down and began messing with the car to get it ready to haul.  
  
The woman didn't go for the truck however, and instead began moving up behind me. "You're such the little lady." She said, reaching into her purse for something. "To bad I have to do this."  
  
"What did you. huh? OW!.ugh." A hard contact on the back of my head stopped me before I was able to finish my sentence, and with a groan, I fell to the ground.  
  
"So sorry to do this," the woman said again, putting her gun back into her purse after hitting me with the butt of it, "but," her Georgian accent automatically disappears and a cold, harsh Brooklyn cab driver type accent replaces it, "for the glory of the Backdraft Group, we can't have you interfering."  
  
* * *  
  
My head was throbbing when I woke up about an hour later with my hands tied behind my back and was lying on an old cot in what seemed like a non-decorated room. The door to the room was solid steel, and the small window near the top of the door was lined with bars. BARS!?! I was in a cell! I tried getting up and hopping to the door to scream for help and yell death threats at the guards when I found out I was tied to the bed, my arms behind my back, my legs tied together, and I was gagged, so I couldn't even yell death threats from where I lay. *Great, I'm a prisoner in God knows where, and I can't even freakin' move!* I screamed inside my head.  
  
It made me feel a little better, but not too much. I still wanted to impale whoever took me hostage on a porcupine, or a really, really big blade, like from a Blade Liger, but I was tied to the bed, unable to move, which I hated to keep reminding myself about it. Something was digging into my back to make matters worse, but as I moved my hands slowly underneath my hips to stop what ever it was from poking me, I stopped.  
  
It was the secret compartment in my belt! Washu had made a special compartment in my belt for a certain little weapon that just so happen to have been freshly sharpened the night before. With some struggling, I was able to open the compartment and pulled out a little sharp thingy, using it to cut the ropes tying my arms. I sat up and took off the gag, allowing me to kiss the little throwing star in my hand. "I love you Little Throwing Star!" I whispered happily as I slid it against the binds on my feet. As soon as I was free and I had slipped the star back into its compartment, I stood up and walked over to the door.  
  
Once at the door, I peeked out the door to see a guard and a very long well lit hallway. *What is this place?* I thought as I continued to look down the hall. I stopped my thinking quickly though and ducked down behind the door at the sound of voices coming down the hallway.  
  
"I told you thousands of times Altair; we cannot have a mere child pilot for us. She's not even trained. We need fully trained, fully GROWN pilots for our group. We cannot have children waltzing around with nothing better on their minds but foolish daydreams." Sneered a sinister voice as it passed my door. The footsteps stopped in front of my door and a younger sounding voice spoke.  
  
"But Count, I've seen this girl battle. She defeated the Ghost! Isn't that enough proof? She's good, and her Liger."  
  
"Don't fill my head with your pointless ranting about the Ultimate X's Altair! Those are silly and most importantly FALSE stories made up for some father to tell to his child at night! A Zoid with a mind of its own indeed."  
  
"But Sir!"  
  
"Altair, I'm going to tell you for one last time to SHUT UP!" Altair became silent. The Count, as Altair called him, had made his point clear that anything that Altair said was unwanted and disrespected. I was just minding my own business, leaning against the door listening to their conversation. I didn't really see where I came into this, but I didn't really care. "That girl is a menace to our group! If she gets anymore information out about us we'll be destroyed! I want her dead by morning Altair or it will be your head!"  
  
"DEAD?!?!" I screeched, and with a heave I blasted the door open with a blast of thunder magic. "Nobody kills the Red Phoenix!" I yelled threatingly as thunder magic once again builds up in my hands and I advance towards the two frightened men.  
  
"N.now young lady," The Count tried to speak with a slight bit of nervousness in his voice, sounding slightly like a chicken, "no need to get angry."  
  
"No need? NO NEED? I beg your pardon mister but if you haven't noticed, I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE!" I practically screamed as the thunder magic in my fingers began to become stronger. "So, you'd better get your little preppy ass off the floor and get me home! Before I do something. unnatural." At this the thunder magic began to spark, causing the men almost to wet themselves. As I was threatening the men, I didn't notice several guards coming towards me with electric shock prods, you know, the long ass version of a cattle prod with a hell of a lot more electric power!  
  
With one zap from the sucker, I was down on the ground panting my lungs out, praying to God almighty that they were not getting another shock ready. "Well," The Count finally said after a few minutes when everyone calmed down, "maybe we can use the girl after all. Altair, call the Backdraft scientists to my office, we have to find a way to control our new little friend." I looked up at the Count and gave him the coldest death stare I could muster. "Put her in a new cell with a reinforced door! I want guards with those shock poles guarding her door all hours of the day and night! Do I make myself clear?"  
  
"Yes sir!" One of the guards grabbed me and thrust me into a cell just across my old one. "Now stay in there and we won't hurt ya kid!" Threatened a guard as his pole sparked, almost as if it was angry.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." I sneered as I curled up on the cot and turned my back towards them. I heard the door shut and a small *click* as the door was locked. I sat back up and undid my belt. *I can't let them take these if they give me a new uniform.* I thought as I pulled off the belt and looked at the compartment on the back. *If they did, I won't be able to get to my throwing stars.* After some thinking and searching, I decided to hide my beloved throwing stars behind a loose brick in the floor. Quietly as I could I chipped away about three good inches from the bottom of the brick, laid the belt into the floor, and placed the brick back in place. I marked the brick with a special magic symbol that only I could see and sat back down on the cot, sweeping the concrete chips underneath the bed.  
  
"What are you doing? I hear noises." Snapped one of the guards after I was finished. I didn't answer I just curled up on my bed and pretended to be asleep. "Must have imaged it. She asleep she couldn't have done anything." The guard went back to his post, as silent tears of defeat slid down my face.  
  
* * *  
  
It wasn't long before a strong hand grasped my shoulder and shook me awake. I had been taking a quick nap and was rather enjoying it, but I couldn't kill the one who woke me because he was a guard with a shock pole. "What do ya want, bitch?" I asked harshly as the guard stepped back to let me get up.  
  
"The Count wants to see you." That was all he said, didn't say why, just said that. I automatically liked this guard. His sentences were short and to the point, he wasn't the type to ask questions. "We're going to his office, now." I shrugged, smirked and got up from the bed. The guard practically pushed me out the door, slamming me into the wall in front of me. "Get going prisoner!" He snapped as he pushed me down the hall again.  
  
"I'm going, I'm going!" I snapped back, walking down the hallway. We had been walking down the hallway for some time when I came to a corridor of several forks. I waited for the guard to show me the way, but no help came. "Well."  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"You could give me some God damn directions, that's what!"  
  
The guard bulked slightly at my harsh words but pointed to the left corridor. I walked through to find a single door at the end of the hallway. With a small zap from the shock pole, I was driven towards the door, which opened once I came within three feet of it. Standing in the doorway was the Count, tall and strapping with dark sunglasses covering his eyes. "Ah, Miss. Prazan, lovely to see you."  
  
"Get to the point pal, I'm getting old here!" I snapped, clearly stating that what ever he had to say was unimportant in my book.  
  
"Ah yes, of course." The Count said, slightly caught off guard by my sudden outburst. "The reason I have asked for a private meeting with you is that you will be working for the Backdraft from now on."  
  
"And if I refuse?"  
  
"You shall be kept as a prisoner and tortured with the shock poles for the rest of your miserable life." I gulped, if that was true, and I was immortal, I would be tortured until the end of the world. I visibly twitched.  
  
"But my magic, aren't you afraid that I would bust out and kill everyone here?"  
  
"I've already taken care of that." He said plainly. "If you break out, or rebel in any fashion, I will take a member of your team at a time and kill them." At this I went from my nice tan color to the color of a sheet. My eyes went wide with shock, and I started to shake visibly.  
  
"Then I have no choice, if the Blitz Team will be safe, I have no choice but to follow your every order." I said finally, looking down at the ground in shame. I was about to ruin my reputation as a Zoid pilot, all because I had offered to help someone. A silent tear slid down my cheek as I was ushered out of the room, and was led to what looked like a lab. The woman I had met earlier on the road was standing in the back, with a pilot uniform on. "You! You betrayed me!" I snapped, thunder magic pulsing from my fingers.  
  
"In a way I did, in a way I didn't." She sneered, her Georgian accent gone and was replaced by a Brooklyn accent. "You see, I was asked to fake my trouble and bring you here." She laughed and leaned against the table behind her next to a young female scientist.  
  
"Why you bitch." I muttered under my breath, the energy still pulsing. A shock pole came from nowhere and zapped me in the ass, causing me to fall forward. Two other scientists, also female, grabbed me and lay me on a table, one of them injecting me with a serum. Automatically, a wave of dizziness engulfed me, and all I could see in the room was fuzzy images and pretty colors. It wasn't long before I could no longer keep my eyes open, and I drifted off to sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
It was about two hours later when I awoke, my head swimming and still slightly dizzy. "Well, good morning sunshine, feel refreshed?" Asked one of the scientists, scribbling notes down on her notepad. I tried to zap her with my thunder magic, but in vain I found my arms, legs and torso banded down to the table top.  
  
"What did you do to me?" I asked in a menacing voice, pure hate pulsating from my eyes and body.  
  
"We just scanned you to see were your magic and power came from. We took some tissue and blood samples, checked you body for cancers or other illnesses, and we designed a special suit to help control you. That way, you don't accidentally slip"-she waved her pen-"and destroy us. From the research our scans picked up, your power is impressive; I don't even see why you need a Zoid." She continued to take notes on a machine that looked like it was processing my blood sample. "Well now, what's this?" She looked slightly confused as she held up the vile containing my blood. In a way, I was slightly shocked too. Instead of fully red blood, it had glowing gold streaks in it. "Strange, I've never seen this before." She said, coming towards the table I was on to get a better look in the spotlight.  
  
"What the." I muttered, looking at the vile. The scientist seemed shocked I was as surprised as she was at the state of my blood, but said nothing about it. *What in the world?* I thought to myself. *How did my blood get like.Oh wait, I must be getting more of my original power back. Demi God blood is usually gold with thick red streaks. Beings I don't have all my power yet, my blood hasn't been able to absorb more magic then my medallion will allow.* I nodded to myself and watched in amusement at the woman's confusion.  
  
"Well now this is something." The scientist finally muttered. "Well then, I guess we'll have to build that suit fairly quickly." And with that, two guards waltzed in, untied me and threw me back into my cell. I lay on the floor where they had thrown me for quite sometime, just letting silent tears fall down my face and just thought for awhile.  
  
"Stupid fucks." I spat to myself. "They have no idea what they got themselves into. But, I can't hurt them, or they'll hurt the Blitz Team." I mused to myself. *Tia, Steve, Oscar, Anne, Leena, Jaime, Leon, Sam, Sarah, Ash, Maylynn, Delia, and Marcus, all will be destroyed. I can't let that happen, even if it means I have to be a sex slave to that fucking bastard, Altair, I can't let anything happen to them!* I screamed in my head, pounding the stone floor with my fist. I wanted to so much to blast the door down and kill them all, but the scientists had been pretty quick in building a control bracelet to control my actions, so I couldn't do anything.  
  
I just lay on the cold, stone floor and cried. The One, the daughter of a Goddess, could not fend off a group of thieves and cut throats. For the first time in my life, I never felt so helpless. 


	8. Alias: Zec Bomber

Chapter 7 Alias: Zec Bomber  
  
My eyes opened slowly to look out of the visor of my helmet. My body felt extremely heavy from the armor that covered my body. Wires attached me to the machine that recharged my armor. The heavy chains that bound me to the wall rang as I stood up from my sleeping place on the floor. It had been about a week since I had been captured and held captive by the Backdraft, and I was wearing the armor the scientists had designed to keep me under control. "Well Good morning Sunshine!" Came the familiar, annoying high pitched voice of the scientist assigned to care for me.  
  
"What do you want bitch?" I sneered, flexing my fingers. I knew I couldn't try and kill her, if I tried, then about 6,000 volts of electricity would pulsate through me. "And make it quick, you know I don't want to talk to anybody, anybody who works with your little organization willingly anyway."  
  
"You have an assignment."  
  
"So they finally decided to whip out their 'secret weapon'." I snapped, making little quote signs with my fingers. "What do they want me to fight against? A couple of Cannon Tortoises?" The shock that received after that sent me to my knees, gasping for breathe. I looked up to see that the scientist wasn't the one who had administered the shock; it was Altair, who was smirking in the doorway, holding the control in his hand. "Why you fucker." I said in-between breathes, slowly getting to my feet.  
  
"Altair!" Scolded the scientist, Dr. Pearl, at the middle aged man. "Don't do that! You have to learn to keep your patience! If she dies, Count will have your head for killing our best warrior!"  
  
"How can she be our best warrior if she hasn't even battled yet?" He retorted smugly, walking up to her until his nose was as close as possible to hers.  
  
"Simple, because you said so yourself when you had Flame Tiger capture me a week ago, that I was the best pilot around, because I had defeated Ghost." I answered, staying as calm as I could, so I wouldn't get shocked again. Altair said nothing, just gave me another shock and left. "That bitch! How dare he do this to me?" I snapped as Dr. Pearl helped me to my feet.  
  
Dr. Pearl didn't say anything as I sat down and leaned against the wall. "He's just probably jealous because you're getting so much attention from the Count." She suggested, checking the wires as best she could in the dark room. The room was kept dark so I wouldn't be over heated in the armor, which collected heat for energy.  
  
"Jealous, he should be happy! He caught me himself didn't he! I'm his captive!" I snapped, my eyes flashing underneath my helmet. My mouth guard, which had been added recently after I bit a guard for trying to touch where he shouldn't, was opened and the two sides slid into their compartments on either cheek, allowing me to eat the bowl of cereal that Dr. Pearl had brought to me. "So," I said changing the subject, "what's my assignment?"  
  
"You, my little star, are to raid a Zoid Battle Commission Special Zoid Unit Hanger, and bring the Zoids back to us." Explained Dr. Pearl as she continued to check my wires for the fifth time since she came in. "It won't be easy; the security is tight in those kind of places." I groaned and continued to eat the shit they called cereal, which tasted and looked as if it had been eaten and barfed up by a dog. She had seen my face as I ate the stuff, and took the bowl from me. "I guess I should stop feeding you his, it's nothing but a special protein enriched oatmeal, no wonder it tastes bad, and it doesn't really work."  
  
"You're telling this to me after five days of eating this shit?" I sneered, looking at the bowl with complete disgust. My tone was cold and icy, not at all liking my containment in this little room. At that moment I had a sudden urge of killing something and gladly taking the shock as a reward for a job well done.  
  
"Don't be smart you little bitch!" She snarled her hand on the switch. "You have no right to speak like that minion!" I glared at her through my visor, glad that it was so dark so she couldn't see me look at her like that. My mouth guards were back in place, covering my mouth to hide the rest of my face. Soon, the chains tighten, pulling me back up, until noon when I would get my lunch and receive more information of my mission.  
  
* * *  
  
I was dozing in my standing position later that morning after not having a very good night sleep. It was only the first full day of having my armor, so I was still getting used to sleeping like a horse, standing up. I had recently figured out that my chains had strong enough bases that enabled me to fall forward against the pull of the chains.  
  
It was unusually quiet in the hallways of the Whale King this morning, all the employees, including the guards, were at a meeting. They didn't worry about me, as the suit had a auto pilot on it, which meant it was programmed to know when I could use my magic and when I couldn't, giving me a shock at certain times so I couldn't use my magic. I was extremely bored, and would have given up anything to have my CD player or my Harry Potter books, or something that was of initial value to me. That's when it happened; music began to spill from the special speakers in my helmet, songs from Garbage, one of my favorite bands.  
  
".I would burn for you, feel pain for you, I would twist the knife and bleed my aching heart, and tear it apart." I could hear someone else in the room with me, who I couldn't see because it was dark in the room and my visor was so dark. The person was close, I could feel their breathe seep through the space between my mouth guard and my visor. ".I would die for you."  
  
"Who are you?" I asked, moving my hand up towards their face. I could tell from the voice that it was male. My hand made contact with soft flesh, and another hand landed on my own. "Who are you?" I ask again, running my hand over his face. His lips pressed against my palm through my glove, his hand squeezing mine. "Well, answer me." I said calmly, tapping his face with my finger, but instead of an answer, I got a little more then I bargained for. A hand trying to slip down the chastity belt around my waist, designed to keep horny guards from raping me and getting me pregnant. The only thing I liked those scientists for. "AAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!" I screamed, lashing out at the stranger.  
  
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed in return, jumping back. Out of it's programming, the suit automatically turned on the lights, opened my mouth guard, and slid up the visor, allowing me to see my visitor. Standing in front of me grasping his chin (which I had hit in my surprise) was a young boy a little older then myself, wearing a white sleeveless T-shirt, faded blue jeans, brown leather hiking boots, black biker gloves, and a red headband in his black spiky hair. Noticing that I was looking at him, he looked up to show some pretty confused green eyes. "What the hell was that for?" He asked, still rubbing his chin.  
  
*What was that for?! How could he ask such a stupid question?* I asked myself as he continued to look at me with a confused look on his face. "What the hell do you mean by that?!?!" I asked angrily, flexing my muscles as best I could, total rage filling my eyes. "You were sticking your hands down my chastity belt thingy that's what!" I screamed, slapping him across the face. He staggered back and quickly regained his composure.  
  
"Well, how can a simple gentleman like myself be able to resist a beauty like you?" He answered his thumb and forefinger cradling his chin, his eyes closed and his other hand on his hip.  
  
"GENTLEMAN?! ARE YOU CRAZY? NO SELF RESPECTING GENTLEMAN WOULD EVER TRY A STUNT LIKE THAT ON A LADY!" I screamed at him, pure rage in my eyes.  
  
"Ahahaha.Well, I'm sorry.I'll just leave you alone now.bye." And with that, he turned on his heel and left.  
  
"What an ass." I mumbled, my mouth guard and visor now back to where they were. "Man I can't wait to kick his ass."  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, the boy was grumbling to himself as he walked down the quiet hallway. He had tried to get her on his side, hoping that she could help him get revenge on Altair for killing his parents. "Great, I screwed things up for myself again." He growled at himself. "There has to be a way."  
  
"Ah Zec, just the man I wanted to see." Zec snarled and looked up to face Altair, his mortal enemy. "I was hoping you hadn't gone to Romeo City yet for your errand. Did you check on our little Champion?"  
  
Zec snarled, "Yes sir, she's fine and ready to rumble."  
  
"Good boy and I would think about changing your attitude. It doesn't help to get mad at a superior officer now does it?" Altair snarled back, his voice just as cold as Zec's.  
  
"No sir, it doesn't."  
  
"Good, now I'm going to my quarters for a name. And while I'm sleeping, I want you to train the whole time I'm asleep, got that?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Altair smiled and cleared his throat. "Good, now then, I'm off. Have fun!" And with a hearty chuckle, he walked off, leaving Zec to fume on the spot.  
  
"UGH! Fuck him! Who does that fuck think he is? I'll show him! There has to be a way for me to get that girl to help.Wait a minute! That's it! But it's going to be tricky.Oh well, tricky is good, tricky I can do!" And with laugh, he walked off towards the weight room, humming a ditty to himself.  
  
* * *  
  
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!* The siren of the base echoed in my ears as I fired the Command Wolf's cannons at the base and lookout towers. The walls crumbled from the blasts and fell to the ground, burying numerous Zoids under the rubble. "This is Control to Base, Control to Base! We need some serious back up! This pilot is too good!" Screamed a guard into the radio, trying to get help from headquarters. "This is Control to Base! Do you copy over..AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" One good shot shut him up. It wasn't long before a heat guided missile, from their own launchers, blew a hole in the wall, allowing me to maneuver my Wolf through into the base.  
  
*That was too easy.* I thought to my self. *The Backdraft was right, unfortunately, the ZBC puts too much money into Zoid research then they do their security. Sad, very, very sad.* I didn't think much else as I came to a door leading into the hanger. After switching my Zoid autopilot, I leapt down and walked up to the door, just in time to meet up with several guards.  
  
"Halt, we order you to halt!" Cried the lead guard, aiming his gun at me.  
  
"Sorry pal, but I only listen to the Backdraft." I snarled. I hated saying that, but I had to or else not only would I get shocked, there was a chance that my original team would be killed. I raised my hands in front of me, and a shockwave burst from them. I didn't want to shed anymore blood, so instead of killing them, I rendered the unconscious.  
  
I stepped over them quietly and solemnly and walked up to the door, which I easily blasted away. Several guards rushed up to meet me, only to meet the same fate as the guards outside. As I walked down the corridor towards the hanger, I noticed a door open on my right, and I looked in to find the same Judge I had helped only several weeks before. {Hey, you're the girl who helped me a while ago. Are you the one who is.attacking us?} I didn't answer, just stared at him, and turned away and left. {No, wait Erin!} His voice called after me, but I couldn't go back, I had no choice.  
  
I continued my way down the hallway, strangely not running into anymore guards. Then, I finally made it to the hanger. I walked inside to settle my eyes on the Zoid the Backdraft had wanted, the Geno Breaker. I ran up and leapt into the cockpit, turned the Zoid on and blasted my way out of the base, calling the Wolf back to me.  
  
* * *  
  
"Good work Dragon! You really out did yourself!" Said Altair as I leapt down from the Breaker's cockpit and landed perfectly on both feet, like a cat.  
  
"Thanks for the compliment." I snarled, and started to walk back to my "room". But before I could reach the door, the same boy from the other day walked in. "Oh, it's you." I said curtly as I braced myself to attack.  
  
The boy smiled at me. "Geez, no need to be so rude, Miss, I'm sorry for my actions yesterday. Oh and by the way, I'm Zec, Zec Bomber." I just continued to stare at him coldly.  
  
"Yeah, what ever Kid, just make sure it doesn't happen again." And with that, I pushed my way past him and walked back down the hallway where some "escorts" were waiting.  
  
"You know Zec; you should be more polite to our young guest." Altair responded curtly as he came level with Zec as he watched me walk down the hall.  
  
Zec just looked at him coldly out of the corner of his eyes and answered curtly, "Yes sir."  
  
* * *  
  
I was happily, if you could call me happy at the moment, relaxing in my cell when none other then Altair appeared. "Ah, Miss. Prazan, how are you?" He said, so cheerfully it made me want to hurl chunks.  
  
"I'd be better of I wasn't staring at your ugly face every five minutes." I sneered, happily accepting my shock, my sixth one that day. I was starting to get used to them. "Gee wiz Mister Altair sir, I'm real sorry, I didn't mean that!" I said in a child like, mocking voice. A vein in Altair's forehead began to pop out as I just laughed and accepted my shocks.  
  
"Why you little bitch! I ought." Then he stopped, and his eyes roved over me, which I didn't notice right off the bat because I was laughing so hard until it was too late. "Well now, maybe this isn't going to be useful anymore." It took me a moment until I realized what he meant, when he cranked up my shock generators a level and grabbed a screw driver.  
  
"Oh crap." was all I was able to mutter before he threw me back into the wall and began hacking at the belt around my waist. I tried to scream, but his hand was grasped very tightly around my throat.  
  
"Time for you to lose what is considered sacred to most women, Miss. Prazan." But before he could go any farther, a gold and silver tail shot out from no where and smacked him hard on the head. Altair fell to the ground, allowing me to see that the tail belonged to a gold and silver organoid, and a familiar face in the doorway. But before I recognized the person, I passed out from both fright and shock. 


	9. Escape

Chapter 8  
Rescue  
  
"Good morning sunshine! Time to get up!" My head was swimming as I slowly rose from the floor of the hold. My vision was blurring and I could barely see three feet in front of me. "Hello! I'm guessing your vision is a little blurry, but that would be because you fogged up your visor." I knew that voice, I just couldn't place it. Then it hit me.  
  
"Zec?" I asked, pushing up my visor and looking into the familiar green eyes of the young mercenary. "It is you! You saved me!"  
  
"Well not necessarily me." Zec corrected, waving his finger. "It was my buddy, Bullet here. He was able to hack into the hanger's computer system and get here before Altair 'deflowered' you, in nicer terms." I had no idea who Bullet was until I heard someone call Zec in Spanish. I turned to my right to see a gold and silver organoid standing over the lifeless form of Altair, who had a rather bloody bump on his head from the contact of his skull with the organoids tail. "What is it Bullet?"  
  
"He's waking up. I hope you have the note from the Count." Answered Bullet, who miraculously could speak verbally in English, which was not common amongst organoids, who usually spoke mentally through telekinesis. "Besides, it'll totally ruin our chances."  
  
"Bullet, relax, it's only half time for our little plan." Zec said, leaning against the wall next to me as I regained my senses. "Now then, here are the papers," Zec added, pulling out an official looking envelope from his back jeans pocket, "and he can recognize his own leaders hand writing." Bullet, who just stared back at Zec with worrisome aquamarine eyes, just shrugged and looked back at Altair, who was finally regaining consciousness from being knocked out by a really hard conk on the head.  
  
"Oh, good God what happened?" Altair growled as he shakily got to his feet, without help from Bullet of course. "Bullet. iYou/i." Altair growled, pulling out a hand gun from his pocket. "How dare you do this to a superior officer?!"  
  
"I'd put down the gun Al, can I call you Al? You see," Zec pulled out a gun from the holster on his hip, "you're no longer a higher rank then me. I'm a higher rank then you now, and the keeper of this fine young lady." Zec shot a loving look at me, which I just returned with a relieved smile. "I had just gotten back from the Count's office when I heard you had headed to Dragon's cell, and I immediately knew you were up to no good, so I came by to stop you."  
  
"But how did you get past the security system of the cell?" Altair asked with the vein in forehead near bursting. "I had set it so no one but me could enter at that time until I was finished having my way with her!" He almost screamed, his face turning beat red, and his finger growing slightly tighter on the trigger.  
  
"Bullet hacked it." That was all Zec said. He then flicked his gun downward to signal Altair to drop his. "I have more control here then you do. I suggest you leave here before I tell the Count of your little plan, now go!" Altair shot another angry glance at me; in return my eyes flashed a dangerous red. Altair's eyes widened in fear, and then he quickly backed out the door. When he finally was out of ear shot, my eyes turned back to normal. "Well now, Miss. Prazan, isn't it?" I turned to Zec and nodded, looking rather confused. "Well then, I guess I have some explaining to do huh?" I nodded yet again, giving him my best sarcastic, 'impress me' look and crossed my arms.  
  
"Well, maybe I should do some of the explaining while Zec is rewiring the security system." Bullet butted in, messing with a few programs on the computer used to help control the suit. "Alright, I temporarily knocked out the security systems in the suite for the next half hour to give it time to reboot a new system virus that I created. This virus will help us in the plan that I will explain to you now." Bullet tapped a few more buttons, and the wires that connected me to the wall flew off of the suit and hung lifeless at my sides. The chains that held me up unfastened as well, dropping lifelessly down towards the floor.  
  
I pulled off my helmet and took a breath of relief. "Ah, finally out of that stuffy helmet." I sighed, setting cross legged on the floor and rested my helmet on my lap. "So, now then. What plan are you talking about?" I asked, propping my right elbow on my knee and balanced my head on it.  
  
"Well, you see, Zec. Hang on a sec." Bullet started, heading back to the computer, hooking a small black box to it. "There, now all the surveillance camera's and microphones are knocked out in this room, even the ones that aren't hooked up to this computer." Bullet returned from the computer and sat down next to me, while Zec was busy getting the security password keypad working again to its original password. "You see, Zec didn't join the Backdraft because he wanted to be a part of their plans. He joined them so he could get closer to one of the workers, that man, Altair."  
  
"That's right," Zec continued, sitting down next to me, replacing his tools in their little black case in his pocket, "I joined to get close enough to kill Altair. Unfortunately, I was never given a chance to do so. Every time he was alone, he was in a room full of surveillance cameras or he was surrounded by guards." Zec seemed to growl in the back of his throat at the very thought, making me wonder what Altair had done to get Zec so mad. "Any way, I need your help."  
  
"And why do you need my help?"  
  
"Because I need to get out of here. The downfall of Altair rests on the fact that I can get away from the Backdraft and get some information to the ZBC. If I can do that, I might be able to kill Altair, getting my revenge." Zec stated, punching his hand, looking quite confident. "All I need is your skills as a pilot, and that sword you own, Ayrutana."  
  
My eyes snapped wide open. "How do you know about my sword, and that can't be my sword because. Does my sword have a name?" I asked myself, looking down at the floor while I tried to organize my thoughts. "And if it does, how do you know?"  
  
"The Dagger sisters. They're friends of mine, and I was curious on how their business was going and had gone to visit them when they told me that they had met you and Ayrutana." Zec explained, taking a candy bar from a fanny pack around his waist and broke it in half, giving me a piece. "I knew of Ayrutana because of legends I had heard that had traveled from Earth to Zi from explorers who had accidentally wandered here. All those people on Earth who had disappeared on your planet whose bodies haven't been found are living here on Zi. Now then, for some explaining on some stuff that you might find interesting. I had a dream once where I was talking to a great goddess. The goddess told me of the sacred medallion, the Scarab of Prazanaznis. She showed me a picture of it and told me that the one who wore it would be able to help me."  
  
I was still lost, but beings there was probably no other way to get out, I decided to take my last option. "OK," I sighed finally, "I'll help, but you have to promise that in return you help me protect my team in case Altair decides to come after them." I extended my hand. "Deal?"  
  
Zec looked skeptical, until he too, extended out his hand. "Deal, but seriously. Don't be sad, little lady, I mean, I know it's a shitty, run down piece of crap. But the Backdraft's not really that bad!" I laughed, and for the first time as friends, we shook hands on a deal that would change my life forever.  
  
* * *  
  
"Erin, Erin sweetheart, time to get up." It was around 6:30 in the morning according to the digital clock that was flashing on my visor screen. And as always, I'm not a morning person. "Erin, I know you hate getting up early in the morning, but today's the day. Time to get out of this Popsicle stand!" I was a little more awake at this comment, for I slowly raised my head to look into Zec's deep green eyes. "Come on, Altair and the Count expects us in the hanger. Time for Operation: Get Our Asses Out of Here!" I smiled at the comment and straightened my self from leaning against chains. I was desperate not to end up like Sirius in the fifth Harry Potter book. I would live through this; I would meet him in the end.  
  
"Alrighty then, let's go. Now remember the plan." Bullet started before two guards walked in to 'escort' me to the hanger where the Storm Sworder that the Backdraft was having me use that day, was waiting. Zec had told me that this particular Zoid, which was a red Storm Sworder named Blood Run, was his own, and that he had switched it with the red Storm Sworder that the Backdraft had originally planned on using. It was connected to a special remote that Bullet had, as to cause a fake break down. Well, I can't really give the whole plan away can I? "Zec, prepare the launching deck for the Storm Sworder." Commanded Bullet, taking a seat next to a large console, giving me the impression that Bullet must be in charge of ordering Zec around. Several technicians were strapping me into the Storm Sworder's cockpit, which luckily was altered by Bullet's ingenious work with wires and a power drill.  
  
Zec sat quietly behind the consoles desk, not needing to adjust the launch deck as he had done so when he had switched Storm Sworders. Instead, he was happily reading 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', quietly cussing under his breath at JK Rowling's choice of character to die. (Witch lady picked a bad character to kill, Erin mad! ( !) My grip on the Storm Sworder's controls tightened as I waited for launch, glad that after weeks of waiting I was finally going to feel the familiar G-Forces that I had once felt in my Lightning Saix. "Dragon, prepare for launch of Storm Sworder." Announced a woman's voice over the intercom in my helmet, getting my own harsh reply, "Yeah whatever, let's just go already!" The mouth of the Whale King we were on opened its mouth slowly, exposing the bright blue sky outside. I gripped the Storm Sworder's controls tightly and braced myself for the G-forces I was about to be hit with.  
  
"10. 9.8.7.6.5." My hands began to sweat, perspiration ran down my neck and back, the Storm Sworder became rigid and straight, becoming a giant bullet. "4.3.2.1. Launch!" The rockets of the Storm Sworder blasted on and the magnetic pull of the launcher shot me forward through the mouth of the Whale King. For the first three seconds, the Storm Sworder was suspended in air, its wings folded and slowly falling downward. Soon its wing unfolded, catching the updraft of wind and kicked on its boosters. Almost immediately, a rush of speed threw me back into the cockpit seat, the force pushing me into the cushion.  
  
"This is amazing!" I cried out to myself. "I haven't been in these high of G-forces since that last time I was in my Lightning Saix!" It didn't take long for my body to recognize the speed of the Storm Sworder to be similar to Saix, and quickly became used to the high speeds. "I feel the need," I said, pushing forward on the controls, "the need, for speed!" And with a yelp of joy, the Storm Sworder bolted forward, allowing me to have a bit of a joy ride until I needed to start on my task.  
  
* * *  
  
"Should we commence our plan?" Zec asked Bullet in Japanese, as so the other pilots in the room wouldn't know what they were talking about.  
  
"Nah, let her have some fun." Bullet answered, looking at the Storm Sworder do a few loop de loops for kicks. "She's been cooped up for almost two weeks since her mission for the Geno Breaker. She has a lot of built up energy." Bullet chuckled in admiration. "She's a special girl that one, she needs that kind of attention, and that kind of respect. Besides, pretty soon, we'll all be free." Zec smiled at his oldest friend and nodded in agreement. It was hard to imagine, it was only eleven years before that Zec had first stumbled across Bullet's capsule, setting him free and allowing him to become the pilot he was today. Zec, now full of determination, returned his gaze to the console, and squeezed his fingers around the controller inside the pocket of his red leather trench coat.  
  
*Almost time, as soon as she gets within range of the base.* Zec muttered to himself, flicking out a pair of dark sunglasses and putting them on. *We'll all be free from this horror known as the Backdraft.* Bullet was in another world as he remembered the first time he ever found the Zoid, Zec's first Zoid. It had been nine years ago today.  
  
* * *  
  
~Flashback~  
  
"Zec, Zec, where are you?!"  
  
"Over here Bullet!" Called a ten year old Zec Bomber as he and Bullet made their way through an old Zoid dumping site, which was filled with a bunch of once thought useless Zoid parts. "I found another one!" Zec was bending over what appeared to be an old Storm Sworder booster, almost completely buried underneath mounds of debris and old rusty Zoid parts. "I wonder if the Storm Sworder it's a part of is still attached." Zec wondered aloud as Bullet came up next to him. "What do you think Bullet?"  
  
"I'd say it's possible." Bullet answered, pulling away an old Shield Liger gun cover from the booster. "Maybe if we can get rid of some of this wreckage, but not tonight, you have homework mister, and it's almost dinner time."  
  
"Ah, Bullet. Por favor?" Begged Zec in his best Spanish. All he needed was a good few hours and he'd be able to clear all the wreckage from the Storm Sworder. "Por favor Senor Bullet, por favor?"  
  
"No, and that means the same in two languages, English and Spanish. We'll work on it tomorrow." Zec nodded and muttered a saddened 'OK' in defeat. Bullet was right, Zec was hungry and he wanted to learn Japanese more then anything. Zec climbed onto Bullet's back, so Bullet could take him home.  
  
"Bullet?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Arigato gozimas." Zec answered, hugging Bullet around the neck as they neared their small shack near the dump.  
  
"For what?" Bullet asked, picking Zec off of his back and settled him on the ground just outside of the door.  
  
"For being my daddy." Bullet looked at Zec in complete shock, but smiled and allowed tears of self pride flow into his eyes as he took Zec into a bear like hug. "Gracias, padre."  
  
"De nada, hijo, de nada."  
  
~End Flashback~  
  
* * *  
  
"Hey, Bullet, hellllooooooo, Zi to Bullet." Zec tapped Bullet a couple of times on the head, wondering what in the hell Bullet could be thinking about. "Bullet."  
  
"What! Wha. Oh, sorry Zec." Bullet apologized, snapping out of his trance, blushing and scratching his head in embarrassment. "I was, just thinking. about the past."  
  
"Reminiscing, heh?" Zec asked, leaning back in his chair and smiling at Bullet, who was still a brilliant crimson in the face. "No worries partner," Zec stated, propping his feet onto the console top and crossed his arms, the control hidden in his hand, "I do that a lot too." Bullet's face returned to its normal color as he turned back to the screen where I was still flying around happily in the Storm Sworder.  
  
"What the hell is going on?! Why isn't she carrying out the mission?!" Roared a very angry Altair as he came down from his seat in the main control area and stomping towards Zec and Bullet as they chilled at the console. "Well, explain!"  
  
"Simple Al, can I call you Al? She's been cooped up in that cell for ages, so let her have a little fun. She'll carry out the mission no sweat." Zec answered coolly, taking out his gun and once again pointing it at Altair's head. "Now, shall we calm down and go back to our seat?" Altair turned the color of soul milk and gave Zec the coldest stare I would have ever seen. "Now then, get back to your seat before I go Kung-Fu on your ass, got it?" Zec asked, now having a smile on his face to rival Soujiro from Rurouni Kenshin. Altair grimaced at the smile, and slowly turned around and returned to his seat. Zec chuckled in victory and returned his gun to its holster. *Almost time, we need to get a little closer.*  
  
* * *  
  
"OK, now that I have that out of my system." I said, pulling the Storm Sworder out of a perfect dive and straightening out, slowing down slightly so I would be able to see the spot where I was supposed to land. "Now then, point 0067 is the coordinate for my landing, which is precisely five thousand feet below me, so." I tapped a few buttons on the Sworders console and did the math; my landing would have to be from a spinning dive that made the smoke into a tornado like shape then to pull up before I hit the ground to soften the landing so there wasn't too much damage on the Sworder. I just hoped Zec and Bullet's plan to get me out of here was going to work well enough. But I remembered the little surprise they had for the Backdraft, and settled down and enjoyed the flight.  
  
"This is Zec calling Dragon, this is Zec, over." Crackled the intercom as Zec's face appeared on the screen. "Just to let you know, we decided to get you a little closer to the base and allow them to fire at you. It's to make the Sworder look as if it's injured. Once they start firing so they almost hit you, hit the button, OK?" I smiled and gave him a thumbs up. This had to be his most brilliant plan yet, not including the idea of stuffing Altair's underwear drawer with spiders. Altair was hopping around so much I was afraid he was turning into Alice from Bloody Roar: Primal Fury and I didn't want that fat ass to turn into the character that made me queen at that game. (No can beat me, no one! MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ok I'm done.) The screen disappeared, allowing me to see the sky in front of me. Just then, there, in the distance, was the base. I knew that base, but from where? It was large and white, lines of Zoids out on the front grounds, awaiting orders for the day. I looked at my surroundings to see if there was going to be a soft spot to land.  
  
Just then I saw it, against the clear horizon, was a mountain shaped like a dragon head. *Dragonhead Base.* "HOLY FUCK! Now I remember that base!" I cried, almost slipping and hitting the button. "They want me to attack Red River?!"  
  
"What's wrong Dragon?" I snarled as Altair's face appeared on the view screen. "You've never had a problem attacking bases before."  
  
"But it's Red River, one of the strongest bases of the Republic!" I shot back, almost losing my cool. "You want me to attack the base that houses the late Baron of Wings' Storm Sworder, Van Flyheight's Blade Liger and the other Guardian Force Zoids? The security for that base is stronger then at Fort Knox, the Pentagon, and the Archives combined! And that's tough!"  
  
"Fort Knox, the Pentagon, and the Archives? What in the hell are you talking about?!" Altair yelled, "slowly" losing his patience as I sweat dropped.  
  
"Look them up!" I shot back. "I don't have time to answer your stupid questions! Now then if you excuse me, I have orders to fill!" And with that, I shut off the communication with the Council of Seven and Altair and headed towards the base. *Bakabakabakabakabaka.* I thought in my head, saying my favorite Japanese word over and over again. *This guy is clueless. And they say that Zoidian students are taught the history of the different continents on the different planets!* The Storm Sworder glided gracefully on the terminals of air that was wafting from the ground below, taking me up towards the clouds. *Well,* I thought, *at least the scenery is pretty.* But I couldn't really concentrate on the scenery when the base was becoming closer. I could now see Zoids in the grounds, surrounded by tall, think walls of cement coated steel.  
  
"Tower to Storm Sworder, Tower to Storm Sworder. You are an unfamiliar Zoid; please state your name and business for Red River Base. I repeat, please state your name and business or we will open fire." I paid no attention to the soldier as he continued his rant on the communicator. So far it was all going as planned. All I needed to do was continue flying until they started shooting at me. I would then detonate the smoke bomb on the wing, making it look like I was hit. I would 'crash land' on the island in the middle of Red River, and just sit and wait, maybe surrendering to the soldiers if they got to me before Zec and Bullet did. I leaned back in my seat and continued to fly.  
  
It was around this time did I hear a voice in my head, a familiar male voice. *Erin, be careful, Tia is something special to me, make sure that when you return, you protect her and her family.* I jumped. I knew whose voice that was.  
  
*Dogma? Dogma, is that you?*  
  
*Yes Erin, I'm on Zi. Be careful. We still need you on Earth to defeat bin Laden. Ayrutana, she showed me where you are.* Dogma replied, *she knows, she knows about what happened to you, she knows why, and she knows about the boy.* I knew who he was talking about, Zec, he was talking about Zec. But why would Zec even matter, considering I only met him a week ago, and that he had heard of Ayrutana from the Dagger Sisters. He couldn't be one of us; he wasn't the incarnate of a demi god or scribe. What was so special about him? *Zec is a special boy, and he only joined the Backdraft to make sure of something. I can't tell you what; he'll have to tell you himself.*  
  
*Dogma? Wait! Don't leave! Dogma! Dogma!* I screamed in my head, trying to call the horse demon back to me. But Dogma's voice was gone. *What was that all about?* I wondered, careful to keep my senses on the upcoming base.  
  
I flew in closer, keeping the guns in my range of vision as I began to circle. Then, out of no where, a missile shot out. Before I could do anything, the missile hit and damaged the wing, setting off the smoke discharger.  
  
"Oh crap." Muttered Zec, looking nervously over at Bullet. "I think this is our cue partner, stage left."  
  
"I couldn't agree with you more." Bullet answered, stepping back and allowing his chest panels to open. Zec took off his head set, and, grabbing a green sheathed katana and a backpack, walked up and allowed Bullet's tubing to surround him. Just before the chest panels closed, Altair burst into the room, his gun out and safety off.  
  
"Zec Bomber! Where in the hell do you think you're going?!" Altair yelled, Bullet ignoring him and quickly running towards the mouth of the Whale King. "Get back here Bullet!"  
  
Bullet turned around, and when opening his mouth, Zec's voice echoed from it instead of Bullet's own. "Sorry pal, but I was never truly a member of the Backdraft. Consider this part of my revenge for killing my village!" Altair's face went pale. That boy. It couldn't be, he swore that he saw that boy die in the Charged Particle Beam. It was impossible. Altair quickly snapped to his senses and fired his gun, the bullets ricocheting off of Bullet's thick armor plates. "Sayonara." Zec teased, as Bullet became a flash of light and blasted through the Whale King's strong armor.  
  
Altair, in rage and hate, fell to his knees. How could he be out done by some boy?! This wasn't supposed to happen! That boy was supposed to be dead! Altair had made sure of that. In one final act of rage, Altair threw his head back and yelled, "Zec Lynnette Bomber!"  
  
*Lynnette?* I thought, as the communications system between me and the Whale King was still on. *He doesn't mean. Alisi Lynnette!? Fiona Shubaltz!* I stiffen, preparing myself for the landing on the hard ground below me. *Zec, the pervert of Zi, is a descendent of Fiona Lynnette Shubaltz of the original Guardian Force?!* I gripped the controls of the Storm Sworder tighter, trying to keep my mind on the task that was most important that time, trying not to kill myself! *Please,* I begged the Sworder as it continued its descent, *please pull up. Please, pull up. pull up.* "PULL UP!" The Storm Sworder made one noise then its system froze, that was it, it was over. *Grrrrrreeeeaaaaaat. I haven't beaten bin Laden's ass yet and I'll ready I'm biting the dust. Well, hope Dogma's Underworld is as nice as he claims it is.* I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes, waiting silently for the end to come. I felt a jolt, but as I opened my eyes, I saw the Sworder leveling out, its system once again running. *But, how.*  
  
"Hey Erin, you mind kicking the controls to me?"  
  
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!" I screamed and spun around to find Zec sitting the back seat of the Sworder, smiling at me and handing me my throwing stars. "Uh, yeah, yeah sure." I tapped a few buttons on the console, watching as joy sticks popped out of compartments on either side of Zec.  
  
"Thanks. Ok Bullet," Zec called to his organoid, "let's blow this popsicle stand!" Bullet answered with a hearty roar and headed back towards the Whale King on a newly repaired wing. "Just one more thing before I go." The Sworder, Blood Run, cried again and unfolded his blades, energy pulsating through them. With a loud iScreeeee/i the blades sliced through the Whale King's metal hide, slicing two of the engines. "Hehe, shove this up your murderous ass, Altair!" Zec cried, laughing hysterically.  
  
* * *  
  
Altair nearly flew forward in his seat as the Whale King rocked back and forth from the attack from Blood Storm. *Damn that punk! Damn him. Wait a minute. That's it!* Altair said to himself, getting up and running as fast as he could towards the holding cells. *If anyone can stop Zec it's the Black Battousai!* Screeching to a halt in front of the door leading to the holding cells, Altair slammed in and stopped in front of a cell holding an eighteen year old boy holding a very strange sword. "OK Battousai," Altair said, "do your thing. Your target, Zec Bomber and his Storm Sworder, Blood Run. Bring back the girl and his organoid alive, we'll need them." The boy, called Black Battousai got up quietly and walking out of the cell door, un sheathed the sword and lightly holding the blade against Altair's throat muttered, "Omae okosoru" before sheathing his sword again and leaving the holding cells. "You'll kill me huh?" Altair smirked, rubbing his throat. "We'll see, if your parents don't die first."  
  
* * *  
  
"Are you sure this is OK?" I asked, looking back nervously at the damaged Whale King. "I mean, I was threatened that if I escaped the Blitz Team would be eliminated."  
  
"Don't listen to Altair." Zec answered a look of accomplishment on his face. "He's nothing more then a bag of hot air." I still didn't feel any better. I still remember the look in Altair's eyes when he said that. I hugged myself tightly and closed my eyes, trying to get rid of the feeling of dread that was slowly creeping up on me. A sudden shudder from the Storm Sworder made me open my eyes and look down towards the ground to see a Zoid running below that looked like a mix between the Shadow Fox and a Lightning Saix. "What the hell. Oh shit." Zec swore, gripping Blood Run's controls tighter. "It's Nikita."  
  
"Who's Nikita I wonder." I answered, gripping the controls for extra support.  
  
"Nikita Armstrong is an assassin from the Backdraft known as the Black Battousai. And believe me, he's never missed a target and has never failed in an assassination." Zec answered, swerving so the Sworder was over a cliff, well out of the way of the Zoids firing range. "He pilots a Zoid called the Dark Jackal. The Backdraft claims to have created it, but I know better."  
  
"How do you know then?"  
  
"Because the Dark Jackal was created by Nikita's dad, and my dad helped design the Dark Jackal before he died." I fell silent. *The Dark Jackal. I've heard that name before.* I snapped out of my dream state and looked back over to see the Dark Jackal running next to us. It had jumped a hundred fifty foot high cliff face and was running almost right next to us!  
  
"Uh, Zec."  
  
"I see him."  
  
Zec contorted his face and continued to steadily pilot next to Nikita. All of a sudden, the Dark Jackal made a quick leap at Blood Run, almost clipping his wing with his claw. *This kid is better the when I met him.* Thought Nikita as he pulled along side the Sworder again. *His connection with his organoid and Storm Sworder is impressive. But not impressive enough!* Almost immediately, Nikita's eyes began to change, one eye became brown, the other red. A voice inside his head laughed mercilessly as it took over. *Now, experience the power that is Anubis! The Great Killer of Zi!* Nikita was now the Black Battousai, no mercy or sympathy at all in his heart as he began firing at Blood Run's cockpit.  
  
"Oh he's wants to play dirty! OK, I'll show you dirty!" Zec cried, kicking on Blood Run's boosters and quickly spinning around. Blood Run once again unfolded his blades.  
  
*Like that will work! Just like your ancestor, Bomber, so predictable.* The Black Battousai quickly swerved to the right, trying to dodge the Sworder's blade. But Zec predicted this. With quick movements, Zec made Blood Run roll over in the air twice, aligning Blood Run's head blade with the Jackal and slicing down its back before it could retaliate. The Jackal fell, its system frozen. "Damn it!" Cried Nikita, once again returning normal. "Altair is not going to be thrilled. I'm going to get you Zec Bomber! I'm going to find you, and then I'm going to kill you!" Zec however didn't hear, as he was happily laughing his head off as we headed back home.  
  
A/N OK, the end of another of Phoenix Tears  
  
Audience: Finally.  
  
Erin: HEY! I have writers block! So shut up! Well, here's just to clean up a few things. Anubis the Killer of Zi, Nikita Armstrong, the Dark Jackal, and Nikita's sword, Kagoume don't belong to me AT ALL! They belong to my friend Nick, or the Black Blade Liger X. He let me use them for the series.  
  
Another thing, Alisi Lynnette is Fiona's real name as an Ancient Zoidian; Van I think named her Fiona because she couldn't remember her own name when he found her.  
  
Bullet, Zec's organoid, was created as an after math of the Death Saurer to help tame it. Unfortunately, the Death Saurer had destroyed most of the race before Bullet was even completed. Bullet was an advanced organoid built not only to assist in the taming of the Death Saurer, but also to hack enemies' computers and Zoids while staying in one Zoid. His advanced knowledge comes from his creators, who decided that if he was super computer smart, he could come up with ideas to help the Ancient Zoidian's recreated or preserve their remaining people. It was Bullet who came up with the idea of the pods and had chosen Hiltz, Reese, Fiona and two other Ancient Zoidians named Star Fire and Xavier. Bullet was also responsible for the preserving of 23 other organoids, including Ambient, Specular, Zeke and Shadow, who then were known as Blood Rayne, Blue Specter, Quicksilver and Dark Night. After he preserved nineteen other organoids, Bullet, known then as Matrix, then preserved himself and had his capsule hidden in the tomb of the King of Zi, where he remained until Zec, the descendent of Fiona, finds him, later reviving Xavier as well.  
  
Well, there's a little back ground info. Next time, I'll be scooping up the dirt on Ghost and his race, the Angel Wings. Catch ya later! Bye for now. 


	10. Return of the Battousai

Chapter 9  
Return of the Battousai  
  
"Erin? Erin!" Tia cried as Zec and I jumped out of the cockpit of Blood Run, Zec's Storm Sworder. "Oh Erin, we've been worried sick." Tia said, running up and throwing her arms around me. "Where were you? I nearly had a heart attack when the police said they found your car abandoned at the edge of the highway."  
  
"I'll explain the whole bag of chips later, but first, Tia, this is my good buddy, Zec Bomber and his organoid Bullet." Tia looked up to see Zec behind me, but her eyes especially went wide when they landed on Bullet, muttering "Project Matrix". "Say what?"  
  
Tia shook her head. "Oh, nothing, forget I said anything. Let's get you inside and get you some food. You look like you haven't eaten anything in ages." I smiled at Tia and she smiled back. I nodded to Zec and Bullet to follow, bringing Blood Run with them.  
  
* * *  
  
".And then Zec saved my ass." I finished, stuffing a piece of bread in my mouth. I had just finished telling them my story as Zec and I stuffed our faces. The Backdraft's cafeteria food had been terrible, so Zec and I had rarely ever eaten there, making us 'slightly' food deprived.  
  
"You must be an excellent pilot Zec if you were able to out maneuver the Black Battousai." Steve said, sipping his tea as we ate. Tia, Annie, Oscar, Steve, Sarah and Sam were all sitting at the table on either side of us, listening to us as we told our stories. "Now Zec, you never told us why you joined the Backdraft in the first place." Steve added, taking another sip of tea.  
  
"Revenge." Steve and the others stopped sipping their tea, raising their heads to look at Zec. Zec's face had gone cold; his eyes looked as if they were remembering something horrible. "It's because of Altair. that I am an orphan." We all became quiet then, only the laughter of the kids was heard in the other room. "He had led the barrage on my village of the Cloud Colony ten years ago. My father and mother had fought against them then, and had perished doing so. I almost died if a female soldier who was a mother herself hadn't hidden me away in her Zoid until she was able to sneak away, leaving me by some ruins with enough supplies and money to last me a week." I just looked at him in shock. Even when Zec and I formed a partnership, he never told me why he joined the Backdraft, ever. Zec then fell silent again, finished his food and went to tend to his Zoid. Bullet was looking slightly sad, growling softly as Zec left the room in silence.  
  
* * *  
  
Zec was sitting quietly on the head of his Storm Sworder, staring at the ceiling when I walked in to visit my Zoids. He was strangely quiet that night, even when it was quiet he would be humming softly; there was always noise when Zec was in the room no matter how silent the room was. "Zec?" Zec raised his head and stared down at me, now changed into a sleeveless T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. My hair was back in a tight pony tail, not the loose braid I had it in when I was with the Backdraft. He stared at me for a few minutes before swinging his legs over and jumping down in front of me. "I'm sorry to hear about your parents." I said, looking at him. He didn't say anything, just looked at me. It was only when I reverted my eyes away from his did I notice a red ribbon tied to each of his biceps. He followed my gaze, and tugged one off.  
  
"They're the symbol of a gang I was with before I was with the Backdraft." I looked at his face again, the look of sadness increasing. "We were known as the Freedom Fighters. But, the rest of the gang was either arrested for framed murders or robberies, or were killed by the Backdraft. They ones that were framed were of course framed by the Backdraft." I continued to look at him with worry. "That another reason I need to kill Altair and destroy the Backdraft. Plus they're getting too powerful, and now that they have that Geno Breaker." But before he could finish, I had thrown my arms around his middle, and had buried my face in his chest.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry about your parents and I'm sorry about your teammates. I've lost my parents too, 'cept they're not dead. But they are in danger of being killed. My planet has lost all of its adult population, and the children are defenseless, all because of me." Zec just stood in shock as I continued to hug him tightly. Then, before I could pull away, I felt his arms wrap around me, and hugged me back.  
  
* * *  
  
"Zec, fire at the Reynos!" Cried Steve as he commanded the Blitz Team from inside the Hover Cargo control room.  
  
"I'm trying to Doc, but this guy is quick on his feet!" Zec snapped back, pulling Blood Run into several sharp turns and twists to try and get close enough to the Reynos to shoot it down. I was down on the ground fighting a Shield Liger with Blade, occasionally looking up at Zec to see how he was doing in his first team battle.  
  
"Ya know Zec; it's not exactly illegal to use your organoid." I hinted, reminding him that I had just merged with Ambient not too long into the battle.  
  
"Ah fuck this. BULLET!" Zec screamed, calling the gold and silver organoid. A streak of silverish-gold shot through the air and smashed into Blood Run's side, merging with the red Storm Sworder. Blood Run's joints glowed for several seconds until he shot forward, unfolding his blades and slicing through the Reynos' wing, causing it to fall to the ground.  
  
"Nice!" I cried out, finally slicing off the Shield Liger's leg. The Shield Liger however, wasn't through. It uncovered its back cannons and began firing at Blade. But Blade was too old school to be taken down so easily. He was used to the battles when he was still Sirius' Zoid, teaching Giovanni how to pilot his Shield Liger. He knew their moves, he knew everything about them, and with the quickest movement of his joints, he jumped out of the way, without my or Ambient's command. "Good job Blade, Sirius had trained you well." Upon saying this, Blade gave both a roar of grievance and satisfaction. I patted the Zoid's console and once again concentrated on the Shield Liger, and with a couple blasts of Blade's blade guns, it was sparking on the ground, its computer frozen.  
  
Tia was watching Blade via a screen in another room of the Hover Cargo. She had snuck away to this room claiming she had a headache and that she was going to lie down. She was watching carefully as Blade roared in triumph, but she wasn't concentrating on that section of the screen. Instead, she was watching a corner screen, where a picture of Ambient merged within Blade's core was set. "Ambient." She muttered, reaching up and running her fingers over the screen. "My father had long since told me of you in the days of your terror and blood lust. May Erin's heart guide you further into the world of love and protection, Hymeth tynen wemnosky demnovath nethe." She finished, uttering in a language even I had not learned.  
  
Tia reached down her front and slipped her fingers in between two halves of a gold chain, pulling out a necklace with a medallion on it. If I had been there, I would have recognized it automatically, as I had seen the symbol engraved on its front thousands of times. It was a round flat piece of pure gold, with rounded pieces of obsidian on its edge. In its middle, at the bottom, was a skull, adorned with the symbols of Osiris, the scepter and the whip. At the top, the head and top portion of neck of a cobra, the symbol of power and protection of the pharaohs. Finally, set in the very middle, made of shaped and smoothed sapphire, was the most powerful symbol ever, the Eye of Ra. This was the crest of a certain Demon of Death, an Elemental. This was the crest of my mentor, Dogma, and Tia, even though I didn't know it then, had a strong relationship with the great demon, a relationship, I never even knew existed.  
  
* * *  
  
"A toast!" I said, raising my glass of Mt. Dew Live Wire over my head and clutching my other hand into a fist. "A toast to the first victory for Zec and myself with the Blitz Team!"  
  
"Hear, hear!" Cried out everyone, including the kids. As the adults went to drinking their wine, me, Zec, and the kids all sipped our sodas. Zec and I may have been at drinking age on Zi, but we never became quite fond of alcohol of any form. Me, I can't stand the taste, the smell, even the color looked like donkey piss. I would just plaintively shake my head in utter disbelief that any one would be able to drink that stuff. I just shrugged after watching the adults drink and took a long dreg of my soda, finishing off the glass and standing up. "Hey, Erin where are you going?" Zec asked, as he too finished his soda.  
  
"A quick run in my Liger 007. You wanna come along?"  
  
"Sure." Zec and I walked quietly through the doorway, the others too busy talking about the battle that day to notice us leave. We put on our coats and stepped out into the hanger, where Liger was watching us from her spot on the left of Saix.  
  
* * *  
  
The run was rather quiet except Zec's now familiar humming in the back seat of the Liger as I controlled her through different gorges. Bullet, who had noticed us leave and decided to come with us, was flying right next to us on large white wings. "It's a symbol of his power." Zec had told me once. "I don't know why he has them either, he's never told me. He only said it was because of his power that he has those wings." Liger was now piloting herself as she headed to a large gorge near where I guessed the Blitz Team had fought the Elephander for the first time in episode six of New Century Zero. All of a sudden, Liger stopped, growling slightly. I looked up to see a very familiar Zoid heading towards us.  
  
"Oh grrrrrreeeeaaaaaat .." Zec moaned, leaning forward and making sure he had his katana and his gun with him. "It's Nikita again. I didn't know that information was so important." What information he meant or what he knew didn't really appeal to me at the moment as I was waiting for Nikita to start firing. But instead of attacking, Nikita leapt from the cockpit of his Zoid, allowing me to get a good look at him. He was around 6'5" tall with spiky brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black T-shirt and faded blue jeans with ripped knees, the bottoms covering the tops of well worn combat boots. Draped over his shoulders was a black cloak, which he promptly threw off himself, showing the weapons he had on his person. A sword and two Twin .45 caliber SOCOM pistols. I automatically heard the cockpit of the Liger pop open as Zec opened the canopy and leapt down on the ground, just finishing buckling his pistol holsters to his belt. "Nikita." He muttered as leapt down next to him, Ayrutana, as I now knew my sword was called, was resting in her sheath on my back.  
  
*Prazanaznis.* I stopped, no longer paying attention to the two boys as they stared at each other. *Prazanaznis.answer me my master, my Prazanaznis. It is I, your blade calling you. Answer me my lady.*  
  
*Ayrutana, bind with me.* I said, concentrating on speaking with my sword, the soul possessing it now awakened as if I was still Prazanaznis.  
  
*The sword.* Ayrutana's voice whispered. *The sword Nikita holds, it is a sacred blade known as the Sword of the Healer. It is supposed to be a sword of protection. Anubis. Anubis is controlling him to use Kagoume as a weapon.*  
  
*Anubis?!* I cried in shock in my head. *You mean the.*  
  
*No, not that Anubis. The Anubis I'm talking about is an organoid, an organoid known as Anubis, the Great Killer of Zi.* I stood awe struck, watching as Nikita's eyes began to change colors, so one eye remained brown, but the other turned deep red.  
*Ayrutana, what should I do?*  
  
*What can you do but wait and watch? If you need me, I have the ability to turn into any kind of sword, just think of a sword and I will become it.* I turned towards the sword's hilt and nodded in agreement. Even as I did this, I could hear a satisfied chuckle emit from Ayrutana. I know reverted my attention to the two boys now, as they began to size each other up. Nikita had a satisfied smile on his face, an evil, wicked smile.  
  
"Zec Bomber, meet your Grim Reaper." Nikita growled, holding his sword over his head, ready to strike at the young mercenary. "Before I kill you, let me say I admire your work as a Storm Sworder pilot, but that will not save you now."  
  
"Then let's get this over with before I get bored from your yapping." Sneered Zec, unsheathing his katana and took his stance.  
  
"Zec! Are you mad!? You'll be killed, that's the Black Battousai!" Bullet cried out, barely being held back by my pulling. "He'll kill you!" But Bullet's futile cries did not seem to reach Zec. He was a whole different person, not like his normal perverted self, but he seemed to change, like Kenshin into the Hitokiri Battousai. "Zec." I turned to Bullet, who just seemed in shock at what Zec was about to do. "Zec. My.son.." I gripped Bullet's shoulders tightly as Zec and Nikita began to circle each other, waiting for each others moves. Tears began to spill out of Bullet's eyes as he watched his adopted son being set up to die at the hands of this assassin. Ayrutana started to vibrate as Bullet's sadness increased.  
  
"Bullet, it's going to be alright. I'm sure Zec will come out of this." But even I knew it was impossible. It was the Black Battousai, the most successful assassin on Zi. I slunk to the floor, tears burning in my eyes. My grip loosened on Bullet's shoulders, and fell limply to my sides. "Zec." I could still vaguely remember when Zec first rescued me from the Backdraft. * "Don't be sad, little lady, I mean, I know it's a shitty, run down piece of crap. But the Backdraft's not really that bad!" * That was the first funny thing he ever said to me, when I had begun to feel bad about ever agreeing to join the Backdraft. Now he was a cold calculating person.  
  
Zec tightened the grip on his katana and adjusted himself in his red trench coat. He removed his sunglasses and placed them in a case in an inside pocket near his right breast. "Now then," he said coldly, "let's dance!" With a cry, both Nikita and Zec rushed forward and allowed their swords to meet, making a loud crashing sound of metal against metal that echoed through the canyon. Blow after blow ensued, the sounds ricocheting off the canyon walls in a rhythmic pattern as the two forces continued in their battle of life and death. Zec seemed to become a little worn as the fight continued, becoming slightly slower. I watched in horror as Nikita seemed to take advantage of Zec's weariness, leaping into the air, hoping to finish Zec with one clean overhead shot. But before Nikita could come all the way down with his blade, Zec did a back flip out there, his feet landing on a nearby rock face, allowing him to push off at a great speed, showing his fatigue was feigned. *SLAM* Zec and hit a clean gut shot with the hilt of his sword, knocking the wind from Nikita, who stumbled. "Heh, the Backdraft's greatest assassin, so far you've fallen for my little tricks. Let's see how you do against a special move I've perfected over the years." Zec held his ground for a good five minutes until Nikita seemed to have enough of a breath to keep going. When that happened, Zec tensed his legs to ready for a spring, sheathing his sword in the process, taking the hiten mitsuruugi stance.  
  
With a cry of rage, Nikita rushed forward, hell bent on delivering the final blow. But Zec was ready. When Nikita was about to run Zec through, he leapt high into the air, allowing himself to fall face first. Nikita once again let out a cry as he leapt into the air, spinning so his blade would become a sort of buzz saw in the air. Zec grabbed his sword and also started to spin. With a strong effort and with the help from the force of the spin, Zec ripped out his sword and met Nikita head on, a clash of metal echoing in my ears. They both fell to their knees, and what I saw made me scream. Zec was wounded, a deep sword wound across his chest and across his bicep, allowing the red ribbon to fall out of his sleeve and onto the blood soaked ground. "Damn you." I turned to look at Nikita, who was now standing close behind Zec, his back facing him. Nikita slowly turned around to reveal that he had the same wound across his chest and arm. "You're the first to ever cut me. Good work, but I'm going to have to kill you now." Nikita rushed forward with every last bit of strength he had, rushing Zec, ready to kill.  
  
"ZEC!" Before I knew it, I was flying forward, my hand on Ayrutana's hilt, my eyes flashing red. With a loud clash, the two swords met, Ayrutana's sheath fell to the ground useless for the form Ayrutana had become, a sakabato, the reverse bladed sword. "I won't let you kill him!" I spat through gritted teeth, my blade pushing against Nikita's.  
  
"Look, I don't care little girl! Now then, I have a job to do so you might as well let me finish it before I kill you as well!" Nikita shot back, growing weaker from the slash on his chest and arm.  
  
"The sword you weld wasn't created for the purpose of slaughtering innocent people. You are it's welder you should know that!" I growled. "Kagoume is the Sword of the Healer! It's meant to heal the wounds caused by evil, not create them!" Nikita's grip seemed to loosen on Kagoume's hilt, his eyes widened in shock at what I had said.  
  
"You know about my sword?"  
  
"Yes. My sword, Ayrutana was created for the same purpose. Didn't you wonder why it took the form of a reverse bladed katana? It's because I do not wish to kill. Swords created for the purpose of destroying evil are swords that protect. They protect the innocent and slay evil, not slay the innocent and protect evil like you're doing now!" Nikita's grip once again became strong as he saw Zec walk towards us, moving slowly from the pain in his arm and chest. "The power of your sword is strengthened by the power of your heart. If you fight to kill the innocent, its power will be like that of a regular sword, but if you fight to protect, it will have the power to do so because of the love you put into it!"  
  
* * *  
*NIKITA!* Nikita I could see was stiffening up for some reason, as if he heard his mother calling for him, for a room unclean or a window broken *You asswipe! Can't you see that this girl is telling the truth?*  
  
*But Kagoume. I can't help but fight.* Nikita's dream self cried, on his knees, begging for forgiveness.  
  
*Go to hell you bitch! Don't you see your opinion isn't wanted here? Nikita is my body, so why don't you just go screw yourself!* Shot Anubis back, waving his spiked tail angrily as he stood protectively over Nikita. His blood red streaks on his body were glowing evilly in the darkness of Nikita's mind.  
  
*Gee, ya know something, I would, but unfortunately, I'M A SWORD!! We don't have that ability! So go fuck yourself!*  
  
*Oh, ouch! That hurt!* Anubis retorted with some sarcasm. *Besides, I'm not going to, I don't feel like it.*  
  
*Hey!* Nikita cried out, *Stop fighting, I can barely hear myself think!*  
  
*YOU'RE IN YOUR THOUGHTS!*  
  
*STOP IT!* Nikita screamed again, getting no reply from the feuding sword and organoid. *Damn,* he muttered, *I should start charging rent. Look, people.*  
  
*STAY OUT OF THIS!* Nikita sighed. How was he supposed to stop this fight from going into later rounds?  
  
* * *  
  
*Ayrutana, what the fuck is going on?* I mentally asked my sword and the pressure against her began to strengthen.  
  
*It seems,* she replied, *that the spirits within his head, Anubis the killer, himself and Kagoume seem to be at combat. Two of these spirits wish to make peace and stop fighting, but as long as Anubis wishes to kill, his body will continue to bend to his ways.*  
  
*So it's like a jury, they have to get everyone on it to one conclusion, not out voted.*  
  
*Right, now then, I'm going to try and get into Nikita's head myself.* I nodded, allowing the glowing sword to have its soul transferred to Nikita's mind. Ayrutana, now in the form a young woman similar to Tia, made her way through Nikita's thoughts and feelings as she searched for the battle scene between him, the organoid and the sword.  
  
*I told you fuck off Kagoume!*  
  
*Why should I!? You're the one who's always bitching and moaning!*  
  
*Oh really?! Then what was that time when I first took over Nikita, who was bitching then?!*  
  
*You! You dumb ass!*  
  
**That must be them.** Ayrutana thought, quickly running down a corridor to come face to face with two angry spirits quarreling, and one trying to get them to stop. *SILENCE!!!!* The two spirits angrily stopped their quarrel to face Ayrutana, who was breathing hard and was clutching a stitch in her side. *You're both acting like children! You,* She snapped, pointing at the girl who was Kagoume, *you're supposed to be a great spirit of protection, and here you are, fighting like a child over a toy!* Kagoume stopped from the punch she was about to throw, lowering her hand to her side and slowly began to see the error of her ways. *And you.* Ayrutana turned to Anubis, who was looking a little uneasy. *You're a great killer of Zi, and you've fallen to the level of a bitchy little school girl, just yelling and pouting! You should have learned that being an ass leads to bad things when that warrior killed you with Kagoume! Now say you're sorry!*  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, back in the real world, I was having a touch of trouble. It seemed that Ayrutana's words didn't seem to be reaching Anubis and he was fighting harder then before. "Back off girl, and let me do my job!"  
  
"And my job is to protect him! He saved me from your group, and it's my turn to return the favor! AYRUTANA!!! GIVE ME YOUR FULL POWER!!" A flash of light engulfed us as Ayrutana changed into her normal form of the broad bladed sword. Nikita was thrown back from the serge of power that Ayrutana had let out. It was weaker then normal because her soul was still inside Nikita's mind, but it was strong enough. "Don't you see now Black Battousai?! The love I have for Zec as a friend is strong, allowing me to defeat you!" Nikita's eyes widened in fear at the sight of the sword, which had changed before his eyes from a reverse bladed katana to a magnificent broad sword. "This," I continued, Ayrutana over my head so her shadow fell over my eyes like a raccoon's mask, "this is what happens when I sword like this is given enough power from love! It becomes stronger!" The voices continued to echo in his head, both Ayrutana's, Anubis' and mine, they wouldn't go away.  
  
*Say you're sorry.*  
  
"The true power of the sword."  
  
*Say you're sorry.*  
  
*Go away.*  
  
"Strengthens with the power of ones heart."  
  
*Say you're sorry.*  
  
*Go away.*  
  
"And the only way to bring out your swords true power."  
  
*Say you're sorry.*  
  
*I.*  
  
"Is to strengthen the love of the person you are protecting."  
  
*Say you're sor.*  
  
"I'M SORRY!!!" Nikita screamed, Anubis crying it out in his head. "I'M SORRY!! I'm sorrrryyy!" Nikita sobbed, falling to his hands and knees, allowing the tears to fall to the ground. "I'm so sorry." Zec stopped next to, allowing my hand to reach across his waist and his arm over my shoulders, allowing his weight to fall on me.  
  
"Is it over?" Asked Zec, wearily resting on my shoulder.  
  
"Yes," I answered, laying him down against a rock face, "yes it is."  
  
"Oh, good." and with that, Zec closed his eyes peacefully, Bullet letting out a long wail of sorrow at the site of the fallen mercenaries. I walked over to Nikita, and resting a hand on shoulder, pushed him up and hugged him.  
  
"You're going to be OK." I said, allowing him to cry into my shoulder. "It's going to be alright."  
  
"No," he was able to say through breaking sobs, "my family is as good as dead now!" I held him closer to me, his face being buried deeper in my shoulder. "I was supposed to protect them. Now they're going to die!"  
  
"What do you mean?" Nikita looked up and wiped the tears from his eyes. "What about your family? Are they the reason you kill?"  
  
"They're captives of the Backdraft. And they aren't the only ones, my folks that is, it's also because of my sister." Nikita said, grabbing his sword and placing it in his sheath. "She was killed in a Zoid battle against the Backdraft, a battle I was in. The rest of my family was caught and I was told that in order to keep my family alive was to kill for them, as an assassin going by the name of Black Battousai." Nikita got up to his feet. "I'm sorry for hurting your friend. He's not."  
  
"No," I said, walking over and throwing Zec over my shoulder with ease, Bullet clutching his katana in his claws, "He only passed out; he should be fine once we get him back to the hanger." I started to walk off, until a strong hand grabbed my shoulder. It was Nikita, a rather eager look on his face.  
  
"Uh Erin," he started, looking slightly uneasy; "can I stay with you?"  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
A/N Tada! Done with another Chapter!  
  
Nikita: Joy. Now I have to deal with you. and your fucked up posse..  
  
Kikyou: *Takes out her sword* What was that little man!  
  
Nikita: Nothing! Let's just say I didn't say anything.  
  
Kikyou: Sorry pal! But your ass is mine! *Nikita runs away screaming while Kikyou starts beating the crap out of him*  
  
Erin: Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.. Well then, while my OC is beating the snot out of my borrowed character, let's get on with the character info shall we?!  
  
Angel Wings, powerful organoids with large bird like wings, were the failed attempts during the creation of Project Matrix. However, as they had special powers that Project Matrix was unable to acquire, the scientists who created them did not dispose of them as any other scientist would. The Angel Wings had the ability to shape shift, and tap into the core of a Zoid, sometimes causing it to temporarily evolve for a short period of time. Ambient can do this as well, but only when merged with Ayrutana, Erin's sword. Anyway, there are ten Angel Wings in existence, although most of their whereabouts are unknown. Certain Angel Wings, such as Ghost and Cloud, are found and stowed away to Erath where they remained for four thousand years until found by Erin and her new friend Mailin.  
  
Well, that's all for today! See ya! 


	11. Nikita's Story

Chapter 10  
Nikita's Story  
  
"Zec. Zec." Zec slowly opened his eyes, finding himself staring into my blue eyes, filled with worry and weariness. Nikita was lying against a rock face, Kagoume propped up on his shoulder like a samurai sword. Zec blinked a couple times to straighten his vision, his green pools filled with question. Slowly he sat up, the sting of his wound still rippling through his body, but when he looked down to inspect the wound, he found it gone. "What happened? How did my gash heal so fast?" Zec asked me, as I looked back at him with relief on my face. But before I could answer him, my eyes closed slowly and I fell forward in exhaustion. "Erin!" Zec cried, lunging forward and grabbing me before I hit the ground. "Erin, Erin, what's wrong?! Erin!"  
"Don't bother asking her now." Zec looked up to see Nikita looking back at him. "She tired from first fighting against my will, and then healing you. Healing takes a lot of energy out of a person. She'll be out like a light for the rest of the night." Zec nodded and grabbed his folded jacket, carefully placing it under my head and covering me with my own. For the next few minutes he just sat there, looking at me. Bullet was watching him do so, asking himself questions like, does he love her, does she love him, and do I still get cake. Why he came up with that question I may never know, as I was still asleep, but Zec never really bothered to ask him that either as they talked about it when we got home later that night.  
Anyway, Zec was still watching me, his elbow propped up on his knee, his wrist propping up his head, reaching over and moving hairs off of my forehead. Liger looked down at us and growled softly, looking up at the Black Jackal. The Jackal replied with another growl then settled down for the night. "So, Lynnette, been having anymore dreams lately?" Zec raised his head and looked at Nikita, his gaze unreadable.  
"Dreams?" It took Zec a good five minutes to figure out what Nikita was talking about, until Bullet nudged him that is. "Oh yeah, I've been having them, and they seem to get longer."  
"Any clues as to what they are about?"  
"Not really, all I see is some black organoids, one that's smooth with blue eyes and another with spikes and white eyes. And they both have wings. Large, bird like wings." Zec trailed off, trying to remember a string of dreams he had been experiencing since he met Bullet. ".and a boy."  
"A boy?" Nikita asked, becoming rather intrigued. "What does this boy look like?"  
"I'm not sure; I never see his face, 'cept for his eyes." Zec said. "When I first see him, I see nothing but an organoid capsule, and as I get closer, the capsule bursts open. A boy is sitting on the ground, surrounded by tubes, which seem to be connected to him somehow." Zec once again trailed off, watching me sleep thoughtfully. "He then says something like, 'Niisan. Niisan. Niisan, come back to me.' Then, there's a close up of his eye, which are a kind brown, but then he blinks, and they become cruel and red." Through Zec's speech, Bullet strangely remained quiet. He knew of what Zec spoke of, he had sealed that boy away thousands of years ago to save him.  
"Nikita," Bullet said finally, turning to the assassin, "If I remove the collar from your neck, will you tell us about why you were working for the Backdraft in the first place?" Nikita turned his head from Zec to Bullet now, blinking several times before stretching his neck, inviting Bullet to try. In no more then thirty seconds, Bullet had removed the shock collar.  
Nikita rubbed his neck where the collar once was. "Wow, it's off and I didn't even get shocked! By the way, why did you want me to tell you about why I joined the Backdraft?"  
"Just curious." Nikita just looked at Bullet for a few seconds before sighing, stretching and sitting up straighter, giving the indication that he was going to tell them something.  
"Alright, but don't get all sappy with me while I'm talking."  
Zec and Bullet nodded as Nikita took a deep breathe and began.  
  
"It all started eight years ago. * * *  
  
I was living with my family on a ranch just out side Romeo City. My dad was a Zoid engineer who specialized in the creation of Zoids. My mother was his assistant. They had two kids, me and my sister, Kayla. We worked for our dad, testing the Zoids he built to help him get done with his work faster. We lived peacefully for a time, until Dad completed his greatest work, the Black Jackal. Dad chose me to test the Zoid, thinking it would be a good experience for me.  
Well, two days after presenting the Jackal to some Zoid Battle Commission representatives, we had a visit from Altair, shortly before the rise of the Backdraft as a dark agency. He presented my family with a large sum of money for the Black Jackal, asking if I could pilot it for the Backdraft. My parents turned him down, worried that they would use the Jackal to steal, and that the work would probably kill me. But the Backdraft doesn't take no for an answer.  
  
It was a week later when it happened. My sister and I were having a practice battle in the field in front of my parents hanger where they built there Zoids. I was winning so far, causing some slight damage to the front leg of her customized Zaber Fang when it happened. Two Whale Kings, large and black, flew out from the horizon and began firing at us, almost hitting the Zoid hanger in the process. Out of habit, my sister and I began focusing our attention at firing at the Whale Kings, causing them to unleash a vast number of Zoids at us. My sister and I continued to fight, our parents soon joining us.  
It didn't take my older sister, then 13, long to get an advantage over the Zoids she was fighting. I was doing Ok myself, but everything changed when another Zoid came out of the Whale King. A Geno Breaker. My sister was too busy to notice it, and she had turned off her com link between our Zoid to help keep our voices from breaking our concentration. She was still fighting the group of Hel Cats when the Breaker began charging, its beam aimed right at her. I began screaming "Kayla! Kayla!" But she couldn't hear me. She didn't notice the Breaker, until its beam was unleashed, and I could hear her scream as the beam ripped through her Zoid. After her Zoid fell, I grew angry, and Anubis took me over for the first time. I became insane, and attacked the Breaker, causing it to go into a system freeze. It was only when my parents' Zoids were knocked down and captured did I realize what had happened. I quickly turned the Jackal to where my sister fell, but as I reached it, I realized she had screamed for the last time that day, she was gone. I had searched for her body before the Backdraft took me, but I couldn't find it. She was gone forever.  
  
* * *  
  
Zec remained silent as Nikita finished his story. It was sad to hear a story that was sadder then his own. Nikita wasn't an orphan like he was, but he guessed that having your parent held against their will and threatened to die if their son didn't kill for their captures was probably worse. Zec had been free to do what he wanted, but Nikita had lived all these years in enslavement.  
Nikita wasn't talking now, his head buried in his arms underneath the hood of his cloak. Bullet wasn't saying anything either, as he was sitting close to where I was sleeping, keeping watch over me, as if I was going to die or something. Plus, he was feeling kind stupid he asked, because he had made Nikita feel bad now, and he wasn't the kind of organoid that enjoyed making people feel bad, like Anubis did. All of a sudden, Liger growled, bringing the boys attention that they needed to get back to the base with me before the adults freaked out about our sudden disappearance. Zec, taking his coat out from under my head, and helping me put mine on, picked me up and headed for Liger's cockpit. "Hey Bomber!" Zec stopped in his tracks and looked at Nikita, a look of confusion on his face. "Do you love her?" Zec's eyes went wide with shock at Nikita's question. But after a few minutes, he replied quietly, "Maybe I do."  
  
I woke up later that night in my own bed, Tia asleep in the chair that was at my computer desk. Upon seeing her, I slowly sat up on my elbows and looked around, spying Ambient curled up at the foot of my bed. After smiling, I slowly got out of bed and changed into my pajamas, then climbed back into bed. Even though I was snuggled into the soft comforters of my bed, I stayed awake, braided my now waist length golden brown hair into a long braid as I watched both Ambient and Tia sleep. But as my eyes roved around the room, I saw someone else sleeping near the foot of my bed. There, sleeping propped against the bed was Zec. His head band was off, letting his longer then normal brownish orange hair fall over his eyes. As it turns out, the black color I saw when I first meet Zec was nothing more then a hair dye used to help him hide his identity.  
I just sat there, stunned, looking into his face as he slept, wondering why he was so worried about me, why he was caring for me like I was his sister or something. Finally, I just shrugged. "He probably just wants sex." I said to myself softly as I lay down and after pulling the covers up to my chin, curled into a ball and fell asleep.  
  
Meanwhile, out in the harsh desert of Zi, a girl around my age with long white hair stood on a cliff, watching the dust and sand swirl in the wind. Her cat like, red eyes narrowed mercilessly as a red Geno Breaker hovered towards her. Behind it was a Gustav, pulling a trailer. On the trailer was a Zoid covered in a blue tarp. "Sorry we're late Miss." Altair said over the two way radio she had in her hand. "I had to look over the repairs of the Whale King that was damaged when the girl escaped."  
"No matter." Snarled the girl, the moonlight flashing off of her long fangs. "She won't be living long enough anyway if you succeed Altair." An evil chuckle came from Altair's end of the connection, which was joined by the girls laugh. "Do you have my Zoid like you said?"  
"Yes milady, a Black Blade Liger, very rare. I had to slit a few throats to get it, literally."  
"Good, I don't want to go against her unarmed. Luckily, I know she is going to be using her Blade Liger when she and her friend Bomber go visit the ruins in two days."  
"Bomber is dead milady, we sent the Black Battousai to."  
"The Black Battousai failed. He is dead. But, she knows of his parents, keep them alive, she will go for them; that is when we use the Breaker."  
"Yes, milady." The girl began to laugh mercilessly. *Soon, Prazanaznis, soon I shall have my revenge on you, and you're precious Dogma!* And with that thought, she let out a fit of merciless, cold laughing. 


	12. Xzavier and the Black Organoids

Chapter 11  
Xzavier and the Black Organoids  
  
It was quiet in the recesses of my mind as I slowly slipped into dream that night. I was standing in a cold, dark corridor, looking around for a light of some kind. I couldn't see anything, it was so dark. The darkness was suffocating, and I found it hard to breathe. Then, all of a sudden, a light started to slowly creep up from the beginning of the tunnel. It was a blue light, coming from the walls themselves. The lights continued to come closer. Finally they reached me, and I saw that the lights came from ancient looking ruins on the tunnel walls. They were in a language I did not know, and looked worn and old. I decided I had no where else to go, so, after taking a careful look at the ruins, I followed the direction of the lights.  
The only sounds in the cold corridor were that of my bare feet hitting the stone floor, echoing off the stone walls. An hour passed as I continued to follow the lights, until I was met by a bright light, blinding me until I walked into a large room. All around me was white, save for two black organoids with bird like wings, one with white eyes and the other with blue. Between them stood an organoid pod, which was pulsating, and then burst open. On the floor of the pod sat a boy, looking no older then thirteen with dark, messy black hair. He was surrounded by tubing, which looked to be life support pipes. A metal box lay at his feet as he slowly raised his head. "Niisan..." I heard him say as I moved closer towards him. "Niisan... Niisan... where are you? Niisan..." The boy's eyes were visible now, and as my self conscious zoomed in on his eye, showing a soft brown, he blinked and a harsh evil red was visible.  
  
I shot up out of bed, a cold sweat drenching my face. Sunlight was streaming through the shades like water through the rocks of a stream, illuminating Zec's face as he lay curled up in a fetal position at the foot of the bed. After a few minutes of catching my breath and wiping the sweat from my face, I quickly got dressed and looked back over at the sleeping Zec. Sighing, I walked over and poked him in the side. Zec groaned, mumbling something about a chicken and a cucumber, and finally opened a bleary eye, which in turn looked at me. "What time is it?" He asked, stifling a yawn as I quickly checked my clock.  
"Half past noon."  
"Yay, lunch time!" I sighed and threw my hands up in defeat, walking out of my room towards the kitchen. As the door to the kitchen slid open, I noticed Nikita sitting at the table, plaintively sipping a cup of coffee. A newspaper open in front of him, and a bagel smothered in strawberry cream cheese lay forgotten behind it. "Nikita." Nikita looked up from his paper and looked at me.  
"Good morning sunshine. Bagel?" He nudged a bag of bagels towards me and slid the three different types of cream cheeses towards me. I grabbed the plain and stuck my bagel in the toaster.  
"What exactly happened last night?" I asked before sinking my teeth into the crispy bread. Nikita shrugged, muttering something about asking Zec, and continued to read his paper.  
I shrugged and after finishing, walked out towards the hanger, where Zec was doing repair work on the Zoids. Bullet and Ambient were with him, handing him tools every so often. "Hey, Zec!" Zec stopped his work and turned to me, slightly blushing seeing I was still in just my sleep shirt and underwear. "I thought you were getting lunch."  
"Bullet dragged me in here before I could reach the kitchen." Zec groaned, giving his organoid a dark look before getting back to work. "How'd you sleep?"  
"It was good," I answered, remembering the dream I had, "'Cept when I had a nightmare before I woke up." Zec stopped working again and looked at me, beckoning me to join him on the Hel Cat's paw. I climbed up and sat. Leaning against the Cat's leg, I watched as he worked a little on the Cat, jerking his head towards the door at the organoids, giving them the hint to leave.  
After the organoids had left, he put down his tools and looked at me. "Ok, so tell me. What was your dream about?" I felt slightly uncomfortable sitting there with Zec staring at me, especially when I was only wearing my pajamas. I looked at him, and he looked at me. I sighed and began to tell him. I had just gotten to the part where I had entered the chamber when I noticed Zec was actually muttering the same thing I was saying to him, perfectly in tune to what I was saying.  
"Uh Zec..." I said, stopping, surprised that even when I stopped he continued, with the same story I was going to say. He stopped and looked up at me. "You knew what I dreamed about?"  
With a small frown he nodded. "I have that dream too."  
I was shocked. "Do you know who that boy is?" Zec shook his head. I sighed and guessed it was hopeless. The name of the boy was never said during the dream, and the organoids where similar in shape to several of the organoids I had back on Earth. The... Angel Wings. "Zec, do you know what Angel Wings are?" Zec nodded. "Do you know who created them?" He shook his head. I sighed and jumped off the Cat's paw, and was beginning to walk back to my room to change when Zec's voice stopped me.  
"You wanna go on a run with me later?"  
  
Saix streaked across the dry desert wasteland of Zi as Blood Run soared overhead, Bullet and Ambient left behind at home. Why Zec asked to leave the organoids back at the hanger was beyond me, but I decided just some alone time with us and our Zoids was a good idea. Besides, I always enjoyed Saix best when it was just me and him, and Ambient always made him run too fast for me. Blood Run descended so it was level with me, gliding smoothly on the air. At times I marveled how good a pilot Zec was. His skill was almost equal to my own, as was his skill with a sword.  
I mused to myself at the luck of finding such a skilled pilot until Zec's voice came over the speaker. "Let's stop here for a bit." His voice was surprisingly quiet for some reason as he spoke then. I was beginning to think something was wrong with him. But without asking questions I parked Saix next to a bunch of ruins where Blood Run landed, Zec down at Run's feet waiting for me.  
As soon as my feet touched the rocky soil, Zec ran up and pulled me towards what looked to be a cave. "Come on, it'll be cooler in here." I said or asked nothing, following Zec like a dog as we neared the cave. As soon as we were in the shadows that filled the cave I looked at him, his face illuminated by the glow from my medallion.  
"Zec?" I asked, looking at him with concern in my eyes. "Are you alright? You've been acting funny all day." He didn't answer me, just looked out the cave entrance. "Zec?" I asked again, grabbing his shoulder. "Zec, are you listening to me?" I shook his shoulder firmly, causing him to grab my wrist.  
He pulled me fiercely, making me move in front of him, staring into his eyes. His eyes began to search mine; his brilliant green orbs seemed to caress my face with their gaze. I began to feel slightly uneasy as he began to pull me closer to his body, and I could feel his free hand slipping around my waist. "What do you think of me?" I could hear him barely whisper, his breath warm against my face.  
"Wha...What?" I asked, utterly perplexed at what he said, his face coming ever closer to my own.  
"What do you think of me?" He asked again, a little louder this time, and enunciating to make sure I understood this time. "And I don't want to hear any crap about me being a good Zoid pilot or skillful with a sword." I looked at him as his gaze became more intense. "I already know I'm good at those things, because Bullet taught me. But what do you think of me... as a person?" I continued to look at him, his gaze boring into my face.  
I opened my mouth to speak, my mouth strangely dry. I wanted him to move away from me, but at the same time, I wanted him to move closer. He was beginning to scare me, yet, I was getting excited as well. Thoughts began to race through my mind, both prospects surprisingly making me even more excited. Did he love me, or was he simply in a state of lust. It was beginning to get harder to think, and I was about to tell him to move away from me until my voice was cut off by his lips.  
I stopped moving altogether, only moving to allow his lips to trail down my neck or to let him explore my mouth with his. I couldn't move, I didn't want to move. _Why am I doing this?_ I asked myself, as I was caressed softly by Zec's hands. _Do I secretly long for this kind of attention, do I love Zec? What is wrong with me?  
_ Zec finally pulled away in order to catch his breathe, now pressing me against the wall of the cave and looking into my eyes. He finally breathed an 'I'm sorry' before he pulled away. I could tell by just the look on his face that he was ashamed of himself. I reached out and touched Zec's shoulder, causing him to look at me. He looked at me, and smiled to find a grin on my face, glad that I wasn't mad at him. Suddenly, he raised his gaze past me towards the wall he had pressed me against earlier. It was covered in engravings.  
We both stared at the wall for a long time before we noticed the cave led to a tunnel, making us look at each other with looks of shock and realization on our faces. Gripping my hand tightly in his, he pulled a small pocket flashlight from the confines of his trench coat and led me down the tunnel. The walls of the tunnel were thick with carvings, many of which I recognized. "Zec..." I breathed, looking at the walls. "These walls look familiar."  
"You're right." He said in a monotone, his eyes flickering in the lantern light. "I'm not sure where but I have seen these walls before." We continued down the hallway, not speaking until we reached a fork in the road. After choosing the path to the right, we continued on our way, the only sounds we made were the crunching of our boots on the gravel. "Erin." Zec said finally, breaking the silence that threatened to suffocate us. "I'm sorry."  
"Sorry? About what?"  
"About earlier. I shouldn't have done that without your consent." Zec explained, not even looking at me. I knew he was ashamed of himself, so I didn't make him turn around.  
"Well," I began, looking at the ground at my feet, being led only by Zec's gentle grip on my hand, "truth is..." I was however interrupted when Zec stopped suddenly, causing me to bump into him. I looked up to see the cause of his stop when I saw the flashlight gleam off something.  
Zec said nothing as he searched over the object with his flashlight, coming to one conclusion. "It's a door." Zec handed me the flashlight without even once looking me in the face and walked forward, rapping on the metal doors several times with his knuckles before slipping his fingers in the crack between them and pulled. For several seconds all I heard was his grunting as he tried to open the door, hoping he wouldn't hurt himself until finally I heard the sound of the metal grazing against its stone surroundings, revealing what appeared to be a room. I handed the flashlight back to Zec and we entered. Zec darted the flashlight towards me to look at the walls surrounding us and found what appeared to be a light switch. I flipped it up and lights flickered on to what Zec and I recognized to be organoid pods.  
"Whoa," Zec muttered, looking at the pods. "This must be one of the hiding places where Bullet stowed away the remaining organoids." We timidly walked slowly to one of them, peering inside. I could faintly see the inside through the thick green glass, and saw the blurring outline of what appeared to be an organoid. As I moved my body closer in order to get a better look, my foot accidentally hit something, and the pod began to glow. I realized as I jumped away from the pod as it began to crack that I had hit the activate switch, and soon the pod burst open.  
Falling to the ground along with the containment fluids was not an organoid, as I had originally guessed, but a young boy. He was naked and surrounded by what appeared to be support tubes. If he hadn't been lying on his back like he was, we would have mistaken him for a young girl, as his hair was about mid shoulder length and it was wet and clung to his face, looking to be either light brown or red. I knelt down next to him and touched his face, jerking my hand back in surprise as his eye lids and mouth moved slightly at my touch.  
"How old do you think he was when he was put in the pod?" I asked Zec, examining the boy closer.  
Zec scratched his chin and scanned the boy with his eyes. "I dunno, I'd say roughly fifteen or sixteen, give or take a year, maybe fourteen." As he finished saying this, the boy's eyes fluttered open, and looked at me.  
"Well, look who's awake." I said in a cheery tone, hoping not to scare the boy. "Now what's your name?"  
The boy just looked at me, confused and flustered at the same time before answering in a quiet voice. "My name is... Xzavier Yaven."  
"Well, it's nice to meet you Xzavier!" I said happily as he sat up, and continued to look at me. "What's wrong?" I asked, utterly perplexed that he couldn't take his eyes off me.  
"You're very pretty." He said with a smile on his face.  
I smiled and chuckled slightly. "And you're very naked, but I won't hold that against you." Giggling as he looked at himself and hurriedly began to try and cover himself with his hands, I grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet. It was only when his was standing did I see a black box lying at his side. "What's that?"  
Xzavier quickly bent down and picked it up, clutching it to his chest. "It's nothing," He quickly stammered, holding it even tighter to himself, "Just some things I wanted with me from my home time. By the way," He said, "do any of you know how long it's been since the Ancient Zoidian race was destroyed by the Death Saurer?" He asked, walking over to what appeared to be an air-proof chamber, and pulled out a pair of underwear, black pants, and a sand colored shirt.  
Zec pondered this for a few seconds, knowing I had no idea of the answer, as I wasn't from Zi. "Oh, I'd say about around five thousand years." Zec guessed, counting on his fingers.  
"Five thousand years?!" Xzavier exclaimed, almost unbelieving. "Man, time does fly when you're in suspended animation." He said, pulling his shirt over his head and reaching for his pants.  
"You're an Ancient Zoidian!"  
"Yes." Xzavier answered, completely unfazed by our reactions. "I was put into this capsule by Matrix to help preserve what was left of the Ancient Zoidian race. I believe there should be several others." Zec and I looked at each other in amazement. This boy remembered who he was. Ambient had once told me that Fiona and Hiltz had forgotten everything about their pasts.  
"How come you remember everything before the pod?" I asked, curious. "I heard from my organoid, Ambient, that people usually forgot their pasts before being put into suspended animation like that."  
Xzavier waved it off like an annoying fly before putting on a pair of boots. "That was the earlier pods. I wanted to remain and watch Matrix defeat the Death Saurer before he put me into a more failsafe pod, unlike my brother. He probably won't remember anything." As he said this, he walked over to another pod that had been next to his own, bent down, and pushed the activation switch. "I had promised this organoid I would awaken him when I was awakened." He explained as we watched the pod pulsate before bursting open.  
Out of the familiar silver goo fell a jet black organoid, with razors adorning his back. He was freakishly tall, like Specular, and had what looked like thin ram horns on his head, the tips curled until they reached under his eyes. What was most impressive about him was the massive black, bird like wings he unfolded when he stood up, rubbing his midnight blue eyes free from any remaining goop.  
"Good morning Ravenwing!" Xzavier said, patting the organoid on the nose. Ravenwing, as the organoid was called, growled a good morning back, shaking his wings dry. Ravenwing then surprisingly acknowledged us, giving us a courtesy nod. "Well, aren't we going to leave?" Xzavier asked, turning back to were he had laid his box. However, when he had picked up the box, he screamed and dropped it on the floor, looking on in disbelief in another room which we had over looked.  
"What's wrong Xzavier?" Zec asked, walking over to where the boy stood, shaking. "See a spider or something?" Zec looked over into the darkened room and flicked on his light to illuminate a broken pod, which looked to have been opened recently. It looked like a normal pod save for one small difference. The glass that made up the pod wasn't green, it was blood red.  
"Uh, Xzavier, what was in that pod?" I asked, very hesitant.  
"A very deadly organoid." Xzavier said, picking up the box once again and hugging it to his chest. "Whoever opened the pod is probably dead now. We should leave." He commanded, turning for the entry way. "It's probably not very safe to linger here." We all agreed to leave immediately, but as soon as we turned to the doorway, we stopped dead in our tracks.  
There, standing there in the doorway, blocking out path was a huge black organoid with black, bird wings, like Ravenwing. He was stockier in build and had stark white eyes and no horns, but there was no messing around when we saw his teeth, which were stained with blood. It was his eyes that freaked us out even more, not only for their color, but there was a hint in them to tell us that he was insane.  
Ravenwing made to attack the organoid, until I stopped him, and commanded him and Zec to get Xzavier to the Zoids. In a flash I transformed into my wolfen form and leapt at the attacking organoid. I knocked him out of the way long enough for Ravenwing and the others to escape before being slammed into the opposite wall. There was a ringing afterwards, I didn't know if it was in my head or it was the clinking of my medallion against the metal fastening of the thick, black leather collar it was now attached to, but a huge roar from the organoid brought me back to my senses. But before I could do anything, the creature already had its jaws around my neck. I was afraid I was going to get my throat ripped out until the organoid jerked its head back and howled in pain, making me realize it had closed its jaws around my collar, which was adorned by metal spikes. With one last lunge, I slammed the organoid back against the wall before dashing out of the room, streaking down the tunnel towards the sound of Zec's army boots thumping against the gravel.  
It wasn't long at all when I finally reached the cave entrance only to find Zec gapping at what appeared to be our Zoids. It was only when I looked in that direction did I see the problem. They were trashed. It looked as if several rounds of ammo were shot at them, making it so we couldn't get out of there. "What the hell happened?" I asked, still in my wolf form.  
Before either Zec or Xzavier could answer, there was a roar behind us as the black organoid, which I had once believed was unconscious, flew out of the cave and grabbed Xzavier on the shoulders with his clawed feet. Xzavier, in surprise, had dropped the metal box and screamed, flailing madly at the organoids grip. "Xzavier!" I cried, running after them as fast as my paws could carry me. "Xzavier!" But the organoid was flying too fast, even poor Ravenwing couldn't keep up, which wasn't a full surprise when I had noticed the organoid had slashed Ravenwing's left wing. I watched helplessly as Xzavier was taken away to a black Whale King, which I knew to whom it belonged. "Backdraft." 


	13. Revenge

Chapter 12

Revenge

It was later that night as Zec was dressing Ravenwing's wounds was I locked into my room, studying the black box closely, looking for a way to open it. It was late, and tired after undergoing strenuous training exercises as punishment for sneaking out like that by Bullet, I decided to forget it and head to bed, but a feeling of dread kept hovering its dark cloud over me, like something wasn't right.

I slipped off my clothing and slipped into bed, not bothering to unlock the door for Ambient, as he decided to stay with Ravenwing that night to keep an eye on his condition. After setting my alarm and picking my computer glasses off the floor after accidentally knocking them down, I snuggled into the covers and closed my eyes to be plagued by nightmares.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Zoidian Desert, a black blur flew across the sky with ease, searching for something in the expansive wasteland. After several minutes, the blur slowed to show Nightwing hovering above what appeared to be a Zoid hanger. With a growl of contentment, he glided down towards the hanger door and knocked, the sound of his metallic fist ringing inside the vast chambers.

Almost immediately the door opened, and Nightwing entered, carrying his precious cargo with him. As soon as he was completely inside, the door automatically shut loudly, almost spooking the seemingly fearless organoid. Almost by instinct, Nightwing walked towards the middle of the hanger, his metallic claws clicking against the concrete floor like a dog's claws would on cement. As soon as he reached the middle, he suddenly opened his chest panels and dropped Xzavier to the floor of the hanger.

Xzavier scrambled to his feet the moment he hit the floor, spinning around to become face to face with the huge organoid, who watched the boy with hungry eyes. Overcome by fear, Xzavier turned and started to run, only to be caught and knocked down by Nightwing. Xzavier screamed as Nightwing opened his fangs to strike, closing his eyes as not to watch as Nightwing's fangs came and slashed him to pieces. But before Nightwing's jaws were within five inches of Xzavier's face, a voice rang out from the shadows of the dark hanger.

"Nightwing, contain yourself."

Nightwing obediently stopped, closing his jaws and looking towards the direction of the voice. Out from the shadows stepped a young woman looking to be about seventeen, with long, almost floor length white hair. Evil, red eyes stared at the boy and the organoid with almost the same hungry look Nightwing had. A smile played on her painted red lips as she walked forward, her black robes swishing about her as she walked.

"Good boy, Nightwing," she cooed, "you brought him to me alive like I asked. You shall be reward." Nightwing made a triumphant growl as he lifted his foot from Xzavier's back, which caused the Ancient Zoidian to look up, his eyes filled with fear and confusion.

The woman looked down at Xzavier and kneeled down beside him, speaking in a seductively silky voice. "Don't worry, pet, you're safe. Nightwing was just playing."

"You call nearly killing me and taking me from my friends 'playing'?" Xzavier exclaimed, setting up to be knocked down by Nightwing, who was angered that the boy yelled at his master.

"That's where you're mistaken, pet." The woman replied, stroking the boy's cheek, which caused Nightwing to once again remove himself from the boy, allowing Xzavier to sit up. "Those people weren't your friends. They were your enemies."

"How so?"

The woman smiled, moving in closer to Xzavier and wrapping her arms around him. "They were pretending to be your friends, pet. They secretly wanted you dead. They believe you're too dangerous with your special powers to be allowed to live."

Xzavier pulled away from her and looked into her eyes with a confused look. "Special powers?"

"That's right, they might not seem special to you, but you, as well as other Ancient Zoidians have special abilities that separate you from the rest of society." The woman stood, and helped Xzavier to his feet. She then wrapped a loving arm around his shoulders and led him from the room, Nightwing following closely. "In fact, they are notorious for killing the Ancient Zoidians they've found."

Xzavier watched the ground as he walked, disbelieving. They seemed so nice… "NO!" Xzavier yelled, stopping in his tracks. "They're not bad people! I can tell! They wanted to help me! The girl," He sobbed, tears started to form in his eyes, "She transformed and came after me, she had a worried look…"

"She was worried she would lose a very nice profit." The woman cooed, lifting Xzavier's face with her hands. "If they didn't kill you, they would have sold you to a research facility. Ancient Zoidians go for a very high price these days, regardless that they look like people."

Xzavier gave the woman a cruel stare, almost matching the hatred that had been permanently burned into her eyes. "And how do you know this?" He demanded, not removing his glare from her eyes.

The woman smiled, bending forward and wrapping her arms around his neck, whispering into his ear the words he never wanted to hear. "I watched them murder your brother."

Xzavier froze. His beloved brother… was dead? Xzavier dropped to his knees, speechless, his grief seemingly beyond tears. The woman knelt down in front of him, seemingly enjoying the sense of confusion and pain that currently ran through the teenage boy's mind. "Do you want to avenge your brother, do you want me to train you to kill them?"

Xzavier looked down at the cold concrete in silence. The woman thought he had passed out while kneeling, but she was proved wrong as he looked up at her, the same hatred filling his once black, now red eyes, like his brother's eyes did once. "Teach me."

The woman smiled and helped him up, leading him further into the hanger's confines. "Just what I wanted to hear. And by the way, you may call me Azriella Shadowblood."

* * *

"So let me get this straight. You found an Ancient Zoidian boy named Xzavier Yaven, you learned he has a brother who may be still in his pod, he was kidnapped by a black organoid who almost killed you, and he dropped this box as he was being carried away?" Steve asked the next morning as Zec and I sat across from him and the others, staring at the floor in shame, almost afraid to meet their gaze. Zec had already slipped around our little adventure before we found the room where Xzavier had been kept during his five thousand years of suspended animation, and to be quite honest Bullet wasn't very happy about it. But his punishment had come and gone, and now it was the others turn to lecture us.

"What were you two thinking running off like that?" Nikita nearly screamed, leaping forward, angered by our unconnected gaze, a habit I was to break in the near future. "You could have been killed! Are you forgetting the Backdraft is still after you two?"

"I'm well aware of that thank you." I could hear Zec reply in a very unnerving voice. "You'd probably do the same thing too if…" I watched Zec stop in mid-sentence lower his head once again with an angry scowl on his face.

"If I what? If I was plagued by sexual tension like you are all the time?"

"That's enough Nikita." I was almost frightened, yet grateful to hear Tia speak up. "I'm pretty sure that wasn't the only reason Zec did it. But that doesn't mean he should be punished just for being a guy."

Nikita fell silent as he fell back onto the sofa, still giving Zec a rather cold look. "Thank you Tia." I heard Zec quietly mutter before falling silent.

It was after Zec replied did Tia turn her attention to me. "Erin." I raised my head almost sheepishly, daring to connect my gaze to hers. Oddly though, I felt a sense of comfort in her gaze, which almost seemed to resemble that of someone I knew, although the eye color was completely different. I was oddly strengthen by it, and sat up, looking into her eyes calmly. "You know you had put yourself in danger, right?" I nodded, not removing my eyes from hers. "And you do know you put that boy's life in danger, right?" I nodded again. "Then you know what you must do?" One more nod. "And what is that?"

"Get him back."

* * *

"Going against the Backdraft with our small numbers is almost suicide." Marcus commented as we worked on our Zoids later that afternoon, hoping to get them prepared for when we attacked the Backdraft base. "I mean, from what you and Zec told us, they have hundreds of Zoids."

"Which most of them are Rev Raptors and HelCats." I replied, not really paying attention to him, having gotten used to his ranting. "Which is why I'm having the organoids command the Zoids that will not be able to have human pilots. It increases are numbers, though slightly, and we'll be able to use all of our powerful Zoids to knock them out." Marcus I knew was thinking over what I had said before continuing, hoping to ease his mind with another word of wisdom. "That, and we're not going to have a full blown melee against their entire fleet."

"And how do you suppose we pull that off?" Oscar piped in, who was working on his Reynos across the hanger, but could still hear us.

"We have our own stealth Zoid get the prisoners out of the building, and once they're out, we blast the building, along with their Whale Kings. That kills not only a good majority of the team, but also destroys their backup Zoids as well. Then we strike our full assault on the rest of the Zoids that are already on the field." I finish with a flourish, throwing my wrench over my shoulder, which landed perfectly in my toolbox.

Marcus's wife, Delia had come into the hanger when I had said this, causing her to get into the conversation as well. "I noticed you used the plural 'prisoners' instead of singular 'prisoner' in that sentence." She pointed out, causing all three of us to look down at her from our vantage points. "Care to explain."

"Simple," I stated, almost nonchalantly, "we're going to bale out Nikita's parents also."

Marcus and Oscar seemed to agree with the plan, nodding as they once again returned to work. By this time the others had finished their Zoids, having only needed to make small repairs. Sarah called up to me from below. "Hey, Erin, do you want me to work on the rest of your Zoids while you're finishing Liger?" She asked, her toolbox in hand and Bandit at her side. I agreed and she went to work on Saix, who seemed happy to get the attention.

"I noticed you also mentioned out own stealth Zoid, and by who do you mean?" Bullet chimed, perching himself on Liger's head from flying around the hanger, watching our progress.

"I'm speaking of Sarah." I answer, pulling a pair of pliers and a sodering iron from my toolbox. "She's been trained in this kind of piloting since she was six, she knows the Backdraft building just as well as Nikita, Zec, and myself because her mother used to be a Backdraft pilot." I return to Liger's wire box to resoder some wires as Bullet and Marcus look at me. "I've already talked to her about it, and it has her blessing." Bullet nodded, although seemingly not liking the plan as he guilty confessed later, but said nothing as he spread his wings and soared down to Zec's side. After I was done wiring, having now finished the Zoids I was working on (Sarah said she would finish Saix on her own) I excused myself from the hanger and made my way to my room, leaving Ambient in the hanger to help Oscar, Marcus, and Sarah finish their Zoids.

As soon as I was in the safety of my room, I locked the door behind me and made my way to the bed, kneeling down and reaching underneath it. I pulled out the Duel Death Dagger and my sword, Ayrutana from its depths and laid them both on the bed with a sharpening stone. I intended to use them if I ever came face to face with Altair. As I pulled the dagger from its specially designed sheath and looked at it, almost hungrily imagining blood glistening off its blades. As I looked at my reflection in the shining metal, my eyes glowed red as I stared into the blade, muttering to myself, "Tomorrow it ends."

* * *

A/N: FINALLY!! AFTER MONTHS AND MONTHS OF WRITERS BLOCK!! . Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Compared to my first two novels, I believe my writing has greatly improved, this story showing more emotion and more of a developed plot then my others. Hopefully work and school won't cut into my time too much that I might be able to finish this story by the end of the school year, beings I'm now getting closer to the planned ending.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!

Jya mata ne!


	14. Show Time

Chapter 13

Show Time

"Wild Eagle ready for take off."

"Thunder Bison ready for battle."

"Steve and Tia ready and waiting."

I listened intently as all our pilots called off, their Zoids lined up next to mine as we slowly made our way towards the North. Sarah was in the lead, Bandit riding on the Hel Cats back as she lead us towards the Backdraft hanger. Liger made a low growl; I could tell she was uneasy. To be honest, I was uneasy too. Something in the back of my head kept going 'this is a bad idea… this was a very bad idea… you're going to get someone killed…' My palms sweat against the controls, my heart kept beating horribly.

I shook my head fiercely to stop the little voices when a large black object became visible in the distance. "Backdraft Headquarters, dead ahead." Sarah announced over the speakers. My stomach churned. Why couldn't she have used a different phrase?

Ambient growled from Blade's core, showing his uneasiness as we closed in on our target. I've got a bad feeling, Rin. Ambient said in my mind. I don't know what, but something is telling me to turn back.

Honestly, Am, I wouldn't mind doing just that… I started, my eyes focused on the now detailed target, but I made a promise, to both Nikita and Xzavier.

That… and the fact that we have a 'welcome party' coming out to meet us?

That too. "Prepare yourselves guys! Here comes company." Almost immediately after the words came out of my mouth, all the Zoids formed a line. Organoids fused with their respective Zoids; the sounds of guns cocking filled my ears as Liger crouched, ready to pounce. We waited in heated anticipation, as what appeared to be over a hundred Rev Raptors and Hel Cats charged towards us. I could just make out what appeared to be several Ptera Strikers in the air. I had a feeling Oscar already had his eyes set on them.

With a powerful lurch, I controlled Liger to leap at the on coming Zoids, a mighty roar filling the sky as she ran towards a group of Hel Cats. As I planned the on coming Hel Cats slowed down to a stop. Their guns were stationary weapons, and their movements were so jerky that when they ran they couldn't get a straight shot in when they run. The trick was to make sure they didn't stop moving, pulling them into close enough combat that they couldn't shoot at you, and they couldn't do serious damage with their claws. However, with a large number such as this, that strategy kinda had to be thrown out the window and shot. Which called upon another strategy, which was called a cleverly placed Wild Weasel unit on Liger's back. So I did what any kid would do in this situation. I mowed down the mutha fuckas'!

The fight was almost easy, which began to put me at ease as Zoid after Zoid after Zoid fell. Zec and Oscar had already taken care of the flying enemies, and now, on my command, they were attacking the base. Nikita and Sarah had gone stealth and were sneaking into one of the open hanger doors. I was almost disappointed I wasn't with them. I was kinda hoping to see Nikita 'Sam Fischer' a poor bastard. Or do a 'Solid Snake' or something. I shrugged off the disappointment and watched as the others did their jobs. It was kind of nice watching as one by one the Backdraft Zoids fell. I was actually starting to have fun.

As I mowed down several Rev Raptors, Liger's receptors picked up what sounded like the buildings alarms. Perplexed, I turned my attention towards the sound. A sharp explosion rocked the complex as the Dark Jackal and a Hel Cat ran out from a large cloud of dust. "Erin! Mission completed!" Sarah said excitedly, her image popping up on the screen. An older woman, who looked as if she skipped several meals, looked up at the screen in a grateful manner.

With a whoop I praised the both of them until Nikita's image popped up on the screen. He looked serious, a man in the same condition as the woman with Sarah, looked up at the screen in a sort of, sad manner. "Yeah, we got my parents out," Nikita started, nodding down to who I guessed was his father, "but Xzavier wasn't in there." I jolted slightly in my seat. "I hacked the systems and found a list of prisoners, but Xzavier wasn't on that list."

"Well, they might have taken him to a diff…"

"Erin that list included prisoners of other buildings." Nikita cut me off, looking grave. "Xzavier wasn't in any of them." My heart sank. _But the Backdraft had to have him._ I thought, thinking frantically. _Who else would use a black Whale King?_ I was so perplexed in my thoughts I didn't notice a large mass slowly moving out of the dust cloud Nikita and Sarah stirred up. I only looked up when Liger growled menacingly, causing me to avert my attention. What I saw made my heart almost physically stop. There, standing against the harsh red sand and dust, haloed by billowing, black storm clouds, sat a Geno Breaker.

"Oh God, oh God no…" I repeated, over and over out loud, trying to stop the frantic pounding in my chest. "Everyone…" I said in a small voice, urging Liger to run away, "RETREAT!!!" As one, every one turned and high tailed it, running as fast as our Zoids could carry us. Tia and Hiltz, who had Lightning Saix, lead the way; Sarah, Nikita and I following close behind. Then, without warning, something grabbed Liger's hind leg, pulling her down, sending electricity pulsating through the both of us. I had forgotten about the grapplers that Genobreakers and Geno Saurs were equipped with.

With an almost pitiful roar, Liger tried to stand. The shock had practically melted all of her wires in her hind legs, making her immobile. With her down like this, I was a sitting duck. With some straining, Liger was finally able to stand and face the threat, but other then that she was unable to move. I was still seeing blue when I noticed a bright light emitting from the Geno Breaker's mouth. At this my vision cleared almost instantly, and to be completely honest, I believe I pissed myself a little. With a sigh of defeat, Liger and I looked down and braced for the worst. I closed my eyes and began chanting an old Egyptian chant Entei and Dogma had taught me. It soon elevated into a song. As I sang, I heard the Geno Breaker give a loud roar before deploying its Charged Particle Beam. I gripped Liger's controls tightly, waiting for the pain.

It never came. All I could remember from that moment was the sound of shredding metal, and a loud shriek coming from what sounded like a Zoid. But I could instantly tell it wasn't Liger. It was only when I mentally connected myself with Liger that a feeling of dread and horror wash over me. Without even opening my eyes, I knew exactly what I was going to see. When I opened them, I shrieked in dismay. There, lying on the ground was the charred remains of Tia's Lightning Saix. Tia, in a strange urge to protect me, had thrown her own Zoid in front of Liger, and had taken the beam herself.

The feeling that washed over me next I could not describe. My eyes began to glow, not the usual blue it usually had, but a vicious blood red. The anger seemed to course through Liger too; her once orange eyes turning red. Everything else after that became a blur, only the sound of my own crazed laughter and the sound of a Zoid and a pilot screaming for their lives filling my mind, egging me on. Then, blackness followed, and I knew no more.

I woke up only a few minutes later, sitting on Liger's paw. I looked up to find what was left of the Geno Breaker. It was now nothing more then pieces of scrap metal, as if something had ripped it apart. What was left of its pilot lay at my feet, organs and blood strewn everywhere. I began shaking, realizing what had happened. I had done this. Blood lining Ayrutana's blade only drove the reality deeper into my mind. With a heave I vomited and staggered away from the bloodied carcass of the pilot, only to run into the remains of Tia's Zoid.

I noticed a good portion of the cockpit was still intact, but I already tell I was not going to like what I saw inside. I looked into the cockpit through a large gash in the hull to find Tia lying still in her seat. An arm had been ripped clean off, pouring dark blood everywhere. A gash on her legs showed bone, scoured with deep cuts themselves. She was missing an eye, blood seeping from her mouth, eyes and ears in a constant flow. I choked back a sob as I squeezed into the cockpit with her, gathering her in my arms. I shook her slightly, as if trying to wake her. Her remaining eye fluttered open, her other one swollen shut from the gash that had cut it out. "Erin…" she said in barely a whisper. "I'm sorry…"

"Tia… Don't be sorry… It's my fault you got…"

"No… not… that…" She stammered. "It's not… your… Fault… It was… my choice… to… sac… rifice…myself… to help… you." She winced in pain, her breathing becoming more labored. I quickly tapped into what remained of my magic to try and heal her somehow, but my power had been drained from that blood lust state I had gone into. I only had enough power to keep her alive for a few minutes at least. "I… was… not… fully… honest… with… you… when… you… were… asking… me… questions… about… my… self." She started sounding stronger as she mustered up the last of her strength. "Erin… I am the granddaughter of the demon… Dogma." My heart stopped. _Dogma…_ "I wanted to tell… you… but grandpa told me… not too… he told me it was better as a…secret." My heart sank. I didn't believe her; I could believe her. I just kept shaking my head as she continued her story. It wasn't until she showed me her pendent did it start to sink in. It had Dogma's crest on it, though damaged from the particle beam.

I could feel her warm blood trickling over my hands and down my legs. I now understood why her blood looked so dark. It was black blood, the blood of a demon. "My father was… and Ancient Zoidian." She continued, looking away from me as her eyes started to glaze over. "His name was… Hiltz Yaven."

"Yaven…" I said in disbelief. I looked down at her with an intent stare, preying my ears were deceiving me. "Then that means…"

"Yes… Xzavier Yaven is my uncle, and brother of… the Blood Zoidian, Hiltz." My grip on Tia's body tightened. I knew in my heart, Xzavier didn't know of his brother's demise, nor did he know of what caused his brother's demise, and quite frankly, I wasn't looking forward to breaking him the news. A fit of coughing from Tia caused me to train my thoughts on her again, concentrating on keeping her alive. Tia was able to sense that I was trying to save her, and with what remained of her strength, she tried to pull away. "No… you… must… live…" Her words became strained again as she left my touch, my magic no longer giving her life. "I… died… to… help… you… fulfill… the… prophecy… Thoth… fortold… go… and… save… your… plan…e…" Tia's words trailed off as her last breath flowed over her lips. Her remaining eye open and looking at me in a calm, almost happy way. I felt numb, my limbs shaking, my energy gone. I slowly stood up and exited the Zoid in a daze, falling to the ground and walking towards the others as they ran towards the Saix. Before they reached me though, I opened my mouth and let out a loud cry, ending in what sounded like a howl. As soon as the sound left my throat, my knees gave out and I fell, into nothingness.

* * *

A/N: yes! I'm still alive. Pardon the off writing, I haven't written this story for a while so I'm a tad rusty. That and I kinda sorta wrote this whole chapter through a writers block. But the long and short of it is: I'm not yet dead!

No, I'm not dead yet

I can dance and I can sing

No, I'm not dead yet

I can do the Highland Fling

No, I'm not dead yet

No need to go to bed

No need to call the doctor, cuz I'm not yet dead!


	15. Tear Stained Goodbyes

Chapter 14

Tear Stained Goodbyes

Everyday, Zec would look through the window of the infirmary, watching me as I just stared blankly at the ceiling. If I could have seen myself, I probably reminded myself of Asaka from Evangelion after her Eva was total ripped to shreds by the Angels. My eyes had a glazed look on them, my mouth opened in a stunned way. Although my eyes appeared glazed and dead, they had an overall calm look about them. I was barely aware of my surroundings. The mental and physical pain had caused me to block out most of my senses and emotions. Every now and then I would turn my head towards the door if someone were coming in to change my bedding and my clothes, or bring me food, which I could only eat if someone fed me. That person was usually Zec or Ambient, whom charged themselves with my care taking.

The ability to speak had apparently left me, I was mute. The only forms of communication I could make were small grunt noises at the back of my throat. Just the need to make contact with people left me. I was cold, and numb; I honestly felt like a Nobody from Kingdom Hearts II. My heart had been swallowed by darkness; I could not feel sorrow… or rage. My mind was hazy for a long time. I couldn't tell the time or what day it was, my thought processors had shut off. Every now and then I would pick up bits and pieces of conversation from people in the room. 'It was shock,' Bullet would say. 'She couldn't handle the pain.' Even through my clouded mind and dulled senses, my soul couldn't help agreeing with him.

Deep inside I knew this was just an excuse. I couldn't bring myself to cry, mourn for Tia or her family. I didn't want to walk into the hanger every morning and see what was left of Tia's Zoid. I knew Steve would never bring himself to toss what remained of his beloved wife's Zoid. I had captured a few words between him and Zec arguing over the Saix's remains. "If you're not going to sell what few good parts there are, store the remains in another room." Zec argued one morning as he and Steve were checking on my condition. It was one of the few times my mind was clear to pick up the whole conversation. "I know you can't bring yourself to trash it, Steve, but think about Annie, your kids for Christ's sake! How hard to you think it is on them looking up at what remains of their sister or mom. What, a few pieces of charred metal?"

"Dammit Zec! Do you know how hard it is? At all? To loose someone so close to you…"

"Actually I do." Zec interrupted. His voice was hot, and I could tell even without looking at him he was pissed beyond all belief. "I do know what it's like. I watched my family be killed right in front of my eyes, Steve. By the SAME DAMN ZOID!" A choking sob escaped from Zec's throat as Steve fell silent. "I was only six… I was only six…" Zec kept repeating, falling into a nearby chair, sobbing uncontrollably. Steve, obviously now feeling like a total ass, left the room without saying a word. I wanted to move, I wanted to comfort Zec, but my body would not let me move.

It was about a week later when I woke in the middle of the night. It was around midnight, and everyone was sleeping. My mind was completely clear for the first time in ages. My limbs felt light, and I blinked a few times before sitting up and taking in my surroundings. The white walls of the infirmary were turned a light gray by the impending blackness of night. With a slight strain, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood shakily. After about a minute of just getting used to being on my legs again, I walked out the door into the hallway. It was eerily quiet. Not even Jamie was crying out in his sleep. On silent feet I slinked down the hallway towards my room and slowly opened the door. Ambient was nowhere in sight. I could just barely remember him telling Zec several days before that he decided to sleep in the organoid room with the others since I became hospitalized.

I snuck into my room and changed into street clothes. I found Ayrutana lying on the foot of my bed, and I wrapped her in a blanket. I felt her power, tainted by panic, touch the back of my mind once I put my medallion around my neck, and I reassured her it was me. After explaining my plan to her, I finished packing and snuck back down the hallway again, this time towards the hanger.

I slowly opened the door, bracing myself for what I might see. Her Zoid isn't there anymore. Ayrutana explained. Zec convinced Steve to move it. I opened my eyes to see she was right. In the spot where Tia's Zoid would have been sat instead a large black stain on the concrete floor were the Lightning Saix would have leaked grease and oil. A long trail led from the stain to a large set of doors on the other side of the hanger, a large chain and padlock sealing the mausoleum from prying eyes.

I stepped out into the hanger, moving slowly towards Sheilder. Liger noticed me and let out a low growl of excitement at seeing me. With a harsh "Sh!" I tapped into a telekinetic link between us. I'm sorry, but I can't take you with me. I explained hurriedly. You're a rare Zoid; you draw too much attention if I took you.

Then why are you taking Ayrutana? Liger asked, irritated. She's a pretty unique sword. Won't someone question?

That was an easy remedy. I'll have her take on the form of a different sword. I answered simply. But for now, I need some time to myself. I'm sorry Liger.

I turned to Sheilder and prepared to climb up into his cockpit when a male voice sounded behind me. "Can I at least get a hug goodbye?" I froze and turned to see Zec standing at Sheilder's front paw, looking up at me with a sad expression on his face. Guilt seeped into me and I slid down, landing in front of him.

"I need some time away," I began to explain, trying not to make the explanation sound too emo. "I can't…"

Zec raised a hand to stop me. "You can't stand the amount of negative energy flowing around this place, right?" I looked up at him in shock and slowly nodded. "Ambient mentioned you were sensitive to negative energy." He walked towards me and placed his arms around me. "You just promise you come back, ya hear?" I could feel tears seeping down my neck as Zec shook with silent sobs. With a little movement, I was able to get something from my pack and shove it into Zec's hand.

It was a locket Severus had given me when I had first started living with him. Zec knew exactly what it was, and hurriedly tried to give it back. I shook my head and pressed it back to him. "It's a binding contract." I said, closing his fingers around it. "There's no way I'd willing leave it behind without going back for it. This will make sure I come back." Zec broke out into a grin and pulled me close to him one last time. I didn't pull away for the longest time, even when Zec kissed me almost as passionately as before. As soon as we parted though, I turned around and climbed into Sheilder's cockpit.


	16. New Job

Chapter 15

New Job

One month later

A large dust storm raged over the barren plains of Zi as a dirtied Shield Liger made it's way towards a small town in the dust. The flying sand had blown paint off its side, and the blinding sand continually nicked its canopy cover. Its pilot sat inside, a serious look on her face, eyes covered by a pair of black wrap around sunglasses. Short, spiky red hair stood out from the blue, feminine battle uniform she was wearing. A worn broadsword was strapped to her back, encased in an old leather sheath.

If you people haven't figured out whom the hell it is by now, you either don't pay attention or you're just dumb. I removed my sunglasses to reveal a pair of sad blue eyes staring blankly out into the distance. A low growl emitted from my stomach as we neared the town, and with a sigh, I closed my eyes and muttered a spell. When I opened them, my eyes had changed into a sharp green. I replaced my sunglasses over my eyes and quickly covered myself in a long coat and mask, to protect myself from the storm. Shielder slowed the second he come into view of the local bar, emitting a dull roar. I pulled my gloves on and leapt out the second he opened his canopy, shutting it immediately once I was out of the way. I gave him an affectionate pat on the nose and walked in.

The bar quieted and all eyes turned to me as I opened the doors and entered, my coat and mask covered in dust and sand. I pulled off my mask to reveal my face, allowing the bar goers to relax and return to their conversations. Their eyes shot back at me, however, when I revealed the sword and two handguns I had strapped on me. The bartender gave me a look, to which I quickly replied, "I don't leave my Zoid unarmed. Makes me uneasy." The bartender nodded and left, returning with a menu as I sat down at the bar.

As I flipped through the menu, looking for something good yet cheap, a large burly man walked up. The smell of testosterone entered my nostrils, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. It bothered me more when he and a friend sat down on either side of me. "So baby, what are you doing in this neck of the woods?" Asked the skinner man accompanying him, a slight hiss in his voice.

"Looking for work. Know any good Zoid teams to join around here?" I answered, not looking up from the menu, resting a hand on one of the guns on my waist.

The larger man snickered. "Oh we don't know about any Zoid teams lookin' for mercenaries." He laughed, flexing his muscles. "But I know a job I could offer…"

Before he could finish his sentence however, he was staring down the barrel of my gun, my eyes still not leaving my menu. "Look pal," I said in a dangerous voice, "I'm tired, hungry, low on money and I'm bleeding from the uterus. I'm not in the mood. So unless you have any info on Zoid teams looking to hire, I suggest you leave me alone. NOW." I enunciated the last word, making myself damn clear. With a shaky nod, both men stood and left, allowing me to put my gun back in my holster.

After ordering a burger and fries, I sat sipping my soda for a few minutes when a light tapping on my shoulder caught my attention. I turned around to come face to face with a friendly young man, a little younger then thirty years old. He had blonde hair and a mustache, and brilliant sea green eyes. I pulled my sunglasses down my nose so we could gain eye contact. "May I help you?" I asked, trying to sound polite yet business like.

"I couldn't help over hearing you were looking for a Zoid team to join." He replied, taking a seat next to me, reaching for my abandoned menu. "I had just walked in to meet with another mercenary when I over heard you talking to those two men earlier." My eyes didn't leave his face. I was beginning to get interested in what he had to say. "The mercenary I was to meet today never showed."

"Too bad." I replied. "Must have had a better offer." I remained silent for a few minutes as the man ordered and returned the menu.

After a few more minutes of peace, he turned to me and asked. "How would you like to join our team?" I turned and looked at him. "I'm Max Cloud of the Cloud Team. My wife Colleen and I had just gotten back into Zoid battles again with my friend Brian Cisco. Unfortunately, we got pulled into a four on four battle next week." I nodded again, my eyes once again locked with his. "If you help us win this battle, I'll consider keeping you longer. How about it?"

I pondered the offer for a few seconds before offering my hand. "I believe you have yourself a deal." We shook on it.

"By the way," Rich continued as our food arrived, "I hope you don't mind kids."

"How old?"

"Three boys, one is seven, one is six, and the other is three months. We also have a girl at seven. The baby, the six-year-old boy and the girl are my kids. The other boy is Brian's."

"Fine by me."

"How old are you?" He asked, trying to delve into conversation.

"Eighteen."

"Type of Zoid?"

"Shield Liger. But I've had experience in other Zoids, mainly Blade Ligers and Lightning Saix." I choked on the name of the latter, quickly covering my eyes with my glasses.

"Good, you and I should be pretty balanced then. I have a Liger myself. A Liger Zero." The name rang a bell. I kept quiet however and hungrily ate my burger. "I don't believe I got your name."

"They call me Axel. My real name is Rowena Phoenix." I replied without missing a beat.

"I take it they call you Axel because of your spiky red hair and green eyes?"

"Yeah, they also sometime call me Reno. Fits though, I'm a Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts fan." I replied, being kind of truthful. "Prefer Axel though. I thought he was a little more bad ass then Reno."

"Axel it is then." Max laughed and waved the bartender over. "Put my friend Axel's meal on my bill, would ya Tom?" Tom the bartender nodded and patted Max on the shoulder. Max in turn smiled at me and returned to his meal.

The ride to the Cloud Team hanger was rather uneventful. Max had driven a Gustav to town to put his wife's Zoid, a Gun Sniper, in the shop. My Zoid now perched on the back, covered in a thick tarp to fight off the sandstorm. A random music station was playing on the radio, and it was getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open. I yawned. "Sorry that I'm not being a very exciting host." Max said suddenly, snapping me awake.

"Oh no," I replied immediately, "It's not you. I've just been traveling for a long time, and I haven't been able to get any decent sleep." I moved my sunglasses to rub the sleep from my eyes. "I've had to sleep in my Zoid to save money for food and supplies. I haven't had any decent work in over a month." I stretched and yawned again. "So, what made you decide to become a Zoid pilot again anyway?"

Max chuckled a minute. "I guess Colleen and I were bored. We originally retired when our son, Bit as we call him, was born." I nodded in comprehension. I wasn't uncommon for a husband wife Zoid team to retire when they started a family. The need to be there for their children usually always greatly outweighed the need to senselessly fight in giant mecha animal battles, Steve Toros and the Blitz Team being an exception. I sagged in my seat.

The dust storm was starting to let up as a hanger came into view in the distance. For a fleeting second, I almost mistook it for the Blitz Team Hanger, then I noted a forest, and not rock formations surrounded it. I was able to see more detail as we neared, and I saw it was actually an old Republic base. Most of the buildings were in ruins, but most of the main wall, a barrack and a hanger still stood. I took a wild guess that the barrack had been modified into a house. Max controlled the Gustav through the main gate and drove into the hanger, which stood slightly behind the main house. The door creaked closed loudly behind us as I climbed out of the cockpit of the Gustav. A large, white Liger stood directly next to us, body low to the ground and head hung low, as if sleeping.

I walked around towards the back and undid the tarp, freeing Shielder from his restraints. He let out a defiant roar, and allowed me to steer him to the other side of the hanger, standing next to a Lightning Saix and a Hel Cat. My breath caught in my chest, and a lump started to well in my throat. I waited a few minutes before I could climb out of the cockpit, my face stone like. Max already had my gear out or the Gustav and was waiting for me by a small door leading to a room protruding from the hanger wall. Handing me my pack, Max unlocked the door and opened it, revealing that it lead to a tunnel leading underground. Giving Max an odd look, he just smiled and clicked on the light, beckoning me to follow. "I hope you don't mind cramped spaces, Axel." Max stated as he led me through the passageway. "We take this tunnel often. Sandstorms are common here, as well as other bad weather."

We soon reached another set of stairs at the end of the hall, leading up to another small door. I could hear the sound of children playing and laughing. I could almost feel myself beginning to miss the little kids back with the Blitz Team. Leena, Leon, Maylynn, Ash, Jamie, Sam and Sarah. I prayed silently in my head that Nikita and Zec were taking good care of them. I also silently thanked whatever gods out there Zec was respecting my wishes, and not searching for me. He was putting a lot of faith into me, and I was quietly returning the favor by putting faith into him. My thoughts were caught short when I accidentally rammed into Max, who had stopped at the top of the stairs. He turned around, a quizzical look on his face. I just shrugged.

Max opened the door and clicked off the light, allowing us to enter a cozy den. Another man, a tad older than Max sat on the couch watching what appeared to be the Zoidian version of football. A boy with purplish-black hair sat on the floor quietly, a pair of headphones running from his ears to a laptop, where the boy was watching a movie. Apparently, the sounds of children that I heard in the tunnel had been from a commercial. "Hey Brian, look alive, we have a new member." Brian, as the man was known, turned his head and seemed to be sizing me up. He was a heavily set man with broad shoulders holding up massive arms. A faded black shirt stretched over his expanse of chest, making me wonder if it was cutting off the circulation in his arms from the position his arms were in. A pair of grayish-blue eyes stared up at me from under a fringe of bluish-green hair, a smile playing underneath a thick mustache. Max continued with the introduction. "Brian his is Rowena Phoenix, preferably known as Axel. She's our new mercenary."

Brian, as the man was apparently called, stood and set down the remote and half empty can of beer he once held clasped tightly in his hands. He walked over and grasped my hand firmly in a strong handshake. "Why, Max. This can't be a mercenary, she's too pretty." Brian commented, a smile across his face. "The name's Brian Cisco, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Even though I was wearing gloves, I could still feel the calloused palms through the fabric, and I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be losing feeling in my fingers.

"It's a pleasure, I'm sure." I was able to get out through teeth gritted in pain. "Uh… Mr. Cisco?"

"Please Miss, call me Brian."

"Ok, Brian. Might I ask a favor?"

Brian smiled, his hand still not letting go of my own. "Why of course."

"Could you let go of my hand? I can't feel my fingers anymore." Slightly embarrassed, but not letting it show, Brian released his grip on my hand, a smile still across his face.

He turned on his heels and walked over to the boy sitting on the floor. With a rough tap on his shoulder, the boy removed his headphones and looked up at Brian with earnest curiosity. "Jack, come on and meet our new pilot." The boy turned away, paused the movie, and stood, reaching up at Brian, letting him know he wanted to be carried. Brian scooped up Jack with ease, carrying him over to us. "Axel, this is my son, Jack."

Jack reached out a little hand and with some strain was able to stutter out the words, "P…Pweased to m… meet you… Akshell." I could only smile at him as I took his small hand and shook it. A speech impediment. My nephew back on Earth, Matthew, had one, although his was caused by his case of tourrette's syndrome. I guessed that Jack only had a simple stutter.

After Brian had set Jack back down on the floor in front of the computer, Max pressed a firm hand in between my shoulder blades and pushed me forward towards a hallway entrance on the other side of the room. It was during this movement I was able to get a better look at the interior of the house. The walls were painted in an off white, the tops trimmed with a wallpaper trim in a pretty intricate pattern. The walls themselves were bare save for the occasional window and several photographs and one painting that adorned the walls. The bottoms of the walls met and ended with a plush carpet of a light gray-blue. The smell of fresh carpet glue stung my nostrils. Apparently they had just renovated. On the other side of the room, separated from the living room by an island with three bar stools and a high chair along the side facing the living room, was the kitchen. This was modern as well, stainless steel and white marble dominating much of the room. The floor was patterned linoleum, designed in a alternating white/light blue pattern. A oak table with multiple chairs sat in the middle, a light blue clothe strip running down the middle with a vase of white peony's in the center. Obviously, judging by the appearance of both men and lone child, a woman obviously lived here.

The hallway it self wasn't much different, save it was much narrower. Doors lined both sides of the hallway, and if it weren't for the occasional picture separating the doors or the wallpaper trim near the ceiling, I would have sworn I was in the hall of doors from _The Matrix Reloaded_. There were four doors on each side and one on the very end; most of the closed save for one near the end of the hallway. Max guided me down the hall until we reached the open door. "This," he said, reaching in and flicking on the light, "is your room." I blinked a couple of times as my eyes adjusted to the much brighter light in the room. Once the little bright spots stopped swimming around, I was able to take in the room.

It was no surprise the room had seemed so bright, the color scheme being light yellow gingham against the cream-colored walls and carpet. A wicker dresser was pressed up against one wall, and a wicker chest sat at the foot of the bed. Said bed was an extra long twin, with a gingham-patterned comforter, bed skirt and shams. The sheets underneath I guessed had to be cream colored. A wicker wardrobe sat next to the dresser, and a door to what I guessed was the bathroom was on the other side.

"It's a large room, a little bright, but cozy." Max continued, laying my bag onto the bed. I unhooked my sword and guns and hung them on a hook next to the door. "So," he inquired, looking at me earnestly, "What do you think?"

It took me a while to think of something good to say, afraid my big mouth would betray my real feelings. "It's very…" I searched for a word that would fit, trying hard to say that word, "…feminine." _Phew_. I though, _that was close._

Max's face soon betrayed a rather embarrassed look. "Sorry about the décor. It's the only guest room we have finished, or I'd offer you another." He thought a moment. "Actually… it was either this room or _the other one_." I cocked an eyebrow. Sensing my confusion, he walked past me and beckoned for me to follow. We soon reemerged in the hallway, facing the door right next door to the left. "Brace yourself." He warned as he turned the knob. The door swung open, and I choked on spit.

"Oh. My. God." I was able to force out as I laid eyes on the _girliest_room I ever had to lay eyes on. Everything was pink frills and lace, from the painted walls to the carpet. A heart-patterned comforter covered the rather low slung bed, a pink heart shaped beanbag chair was shoved in the corner. A white vanity and chair was pressed against the wall near the window, which was draped in white curtains covered in pink and red heart. "Max," I stammered, unable to take my eyes off the room, "shut the door, I'm about to up chuck." Max shut the door and I had to duck into my room to get my breath back. "Please tell me that is _not _intended to be a guest room."

Max sighed in relief. "No, it's not, thank god. But to tell you the truth I nearly had the same reaction. This is actually going to be our daughter's room." He sighed again. "Unfortunately, I don't think Fiona's gonna like it either."

"Care to explain?"

"She's not what you would call… a girly girl." Max finally explained, running his fingers through his hair. "She's away at camp, and I think she's going to throw a royal fit when she gets home." A cocked eyebrow egged him on. "She _hates_ the color pink with a _passion_." I had to smile. Personally, I liked pink, but what the room next door held was overkill.

"I take she likes more masculine colors?" A nod from Max made me smile again. "And her mother believes she should act more like a little girl therefore have the girly room that her mother had as a children." Another, sad nod. "Max, sorry to say this, but I think your daughter is going to have a hissy fit."

"You don't know the half of it." Max sighed as I followed him into the hallway. I smirked, thinking Fiona's bedroom was the worst of the worst in this household. Boy did I get a shell shock when I opened the fridge.

My stomach was growling for a snack as we re-entered the living room/kitchen. After asking if I could find a snack, receiving an odd answer from Max and a weird look from Brian, I made my way over to the fridge. Upon opening it, I froze. "Oh. My. God." I said for the second time today. Nothing but veggie burgers, health bars, tofu, soy, fruits and vegetables as far as the eyes could see. V8 Splash and regular V8, large jugs at that, sat on one shelf, flanked by Morning Star Vegetable Burger Patties. Egg substitute sat in a carton in the door, along with fat reduced cheese and goat's milk.

"See what I mean?" Max said, a distressed sigh emanating from his throat.

I answered with a dead stare, a straight face, and in a voice that could scare a vampire I asked, "Where's the meat?"

"No meat."

I stared at him. "No… meat?" It came out as a low whimper, the look of a kicked puppy taking over my face. "But… but… but…meat." Max sighed and shook his head again. This time, I was getting a little flustered. "But, you're the man in the house, surely you must have…"

"She kicked me down." Max sighed again and was about the walk away before what came out of my next stopped him. Common sense told me to hold my tongue, so I closed the fridge and walked away, dreading dinner with every disappointed step.

My stomach was growling up a storm when Max's wife, Colleen, finally came home with their three kids. Holding the baby, Vega, protectively against her chest as she and her son, Bit, struggled with the groceries. I was able to get a slight glimpse in the bag, whole-wheat spaghetti with organic marinara sauce and a whole-wheat baguette. I sighed in relief, glad that some sort of real food was being brought into this house. After introductions were said, I turned to the young girl who was hauling a large duffle bag into the house. This, I thought, had to be Fiona. She seemed to be struggling with the bag, so I walked over and lifted it. She muttered a thank you and beckoned me to follow her. She stopped in front of the room Max showed me earlier.

I placed a calm hand on her shoulder to stop her a second. "Did your mommy tell you this was going to be your new room?" I asked in a sugared voice. She nodded excitedly, an eager smile on her face. I smiled a sympathetic smile and continued. "Take this as your warning sweetie. It looks like your mother's room designer was Cupid." Fiona's face fell, and eager anticipation was replaced by horror.

"She didn't…" Before I could stop her, she opened the door, and shrieked. I waited for the ringing to stop before I muttered an 'I told you so' before I followed her in, dumping her very boyish duffle on the bed. Taking the room in a second time wasn't so bad as the first, but I had to feel very sorry for Fiona.

It didn't help that I heard her mother's cheery voice coming from the kitchen, "Do you like your room sweetie?" Apparently she took Fiona's shriek as a shriek of excitement. I had to cover Fiona's mouth before she yelled out a loud profanity; one I guessed she either heard from her father or Brian. Muffled footsteps soon came down the hall, and her mother's face was soon visible in the doorway. "Well?" She asked, slightly confused as to why I was holding her daughter's mouth shut, and why her daughter was giving her a death stare.

I removed my hand, which I soon realized was a bad move. "What the heck were you thinking?" Fiona snapped, her voice echoing throughout the room. I sat back and was slightly enjoying the fireworks. Sometimes being involved in chaos was fun. Fiona continued. "I told you a thousand times, _I hate pink!_" Fiona was starting to get red in the face, and I was about ready to think she was going to pop. "I told you to follow my list that I wrote for you before I went to camp! But no!" Curious as to what she meant, Fiona went over to the bedside table and open the door. She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. I skimmed over it, and so far from what I saw; the room she wanted would have been robin's egg blue, wooden, natural brown furniture and solid colored, non-frilly bedding. The design was teetering between masculine and feminine. I was thoroughly impressed. I handed the list back to Fiona.

"But sweetie," her mother said, a sugary tone escaping her mouth as she wore a sweet smile on her face, "a little girl shouldn't have a boys room. Little girls should have little girl rooms." Part of me wanted to stand up and slap this woman. The other part reminded me that this woman was only doing what she thought was best for her children. So far, the part that wanted to slap her was winning. "Rowena, dear, you're a fine young woman, maybe you could help me out." I turned to face her, then looked around the room, my gaze landing on Fiona's face.

"Ma'am," I started, wondering what I should say to suck up to her. She was my boss's wife after all. I sighed and finally said, "the name is Axel, and even I have to say this room is overkill. _My _room back home wasn't even this crazy when I was a little girl, and _I_ was a girly-girl." I stood and brushed off my pants. "However, I will side neither of you, but I will leave you with this little tidbit. Your daughter left you a list of what _she_ wanted in her room. You ignored said list and you renovated the room with what you _thought_ she would like better. Don't you think the only person in this situation who would know what they like would be your daughter? And with that," I said, saluting and walking past her into the hallway, "I bid you adieu and I'm going to go help the gentlemen." And with that, I left the conversation.

The tension a while later at the dinner table was so thick, I could have cut it with my butter knife. Fiona had point blank refused to speak to her mother after Colleen made it clear that the room was not changing, so she would have to live with it. I was beginning to feel sorry for this family. Colleen on the other hand, was smiling; eating her dinner with such gusto that it would seem nothing went wrong to the untrained eye. A quick mind scrye showed no remorse or guilt, while Fiona's showed a lot of anger, and swearing to my surprise. I shot her a sympathetic glace and returned to my pasta. Max gave me an 'this is what I have to live with' look before he too, returned to his meal. I made a mental note offer my room to Fiona as soon as we had a private moment.

The private moment never came that evening, Colleen refusing to let the kids out of her sight for the remainder of the evening. It was soon revealed that Colleen obviously wore the pants in this house, as even Brian had to suffer through educational television that evening. It wasn't a total loss on my part, I sort of enjoyed history and biology. I still had to feel sorry for Brian and Max though, beings their whole natural male biological make up was being squashed by an over zealous woman. Apparently, the TV was the only thing in the house Max had control over. If Colleen had her way, there would be no television. Actually, at the moment, she was forcing the children to read. Fiona absent-mindedly flipped through the pages of the book she was reading before closing it, standing up and announcing she was going to go to bed. "Oh good, you like your room then?" Colleen asked happily as Fiona turned and walked down the hall.

Fiona turned and gave her mother the iciest stare I've ever seen, a feat I congratulated Fiona for later. "No," she stated, just as icily, "I'm getting my pajamas and a sleeping bag and staying the boys room. I refuse to stay in that monstrosity for even a second." And with that, she turned on her heel and walked down the hall. Her mother was about to call after her, going to say something about how inappropriate it was for a girl and a boy to even shared a room, when Fiona turned around again. "And don't give me that 'it's inappropriate for a boy and a girl to share a room'. I was sharing a room with them before I even left for camp in the first place." And that was the end of that. I groaned and sank deeper into the couch. This was going to be a long week.


	17. Truth Behind It All

Chapter 16

Truth Behind It All

The next day came and went with out so much as a hitch. Relatively speaking of course, as I had been in the hanger all day, digging sand out of Shielder's gears. From what I heard from Max as he came back from the house to grab a snack, a Nutrigrain bar of course, Colleen and Fiona had gotten into another argument, and the younger girl had locked herself in my room. I shrugged it off, turning my attention back to Shielder's repairs. Max kept looking at me. I felt his gaze on the back of my neck as I finished cleaning the Zoid's front, right leg. I turned and faced him, a look of confusion on my face. "What?"

"I was just wondering…"

"Oh no, the worst things in the world usually start with those words. Whatever you're selling, I don't want it." I turned my attention back to Shielder, trying my best to ignore the older pilot.

Max, however, wasn't giving up. "Rowena, come on." He begged, climbing the scaffold where I was sitting, bringing himself up to at least my waist. "All I want you to do is talk to Fiona. See what's really the matter."

I finally turned and gave Max my full attention. "Why don't you talk to her? She shouldn't be mad at you. You didn't completely fuck up her dream room."

"I tried. She thinks I'm taking her mother's side again." Max sighed again. "I love Colleen to death, I really do, but these little quirks of hers are driving me up the wall." He pulled himself up completely onto the scaffold next to me. "Back when we first met, she was the biggest daredevil. She loved Zoids, and she never backed down from a challenge. But after Fiona was born, things started changing. She became more feminine, starting worrying about her health more. Did I tell you she used to love meat as much I as I do?" I shook my head, almost shocked. "She was watching a show once called Supersize Me, and she's been scared of burgers and other fat filled foods since."

"I've seen the same show. Apparently she took it too literally." I replied, and then added. "Sometimes the change in pheromones and hormones that women experience during pregnancy and motherhood changes them. Your wife is just probably very concerned about your welfare and took some extreme measures." I put the screwdriver I was using back into my toolbox before I continued. "Colleen is also probably so intent on making sure Fiona stays a girl because the male ratio outnumbers the female ratio 2 to 1." I sighed and closed my toolbox. "And as I need a break from working on my Zoid for a bit, I'll go talk with Fiona." Max thanked me up and down until I shut the door in his face.

"Fiona, can I come in?" I knocked on the door, trying to sound as sincere as I could. As I lacked a key, the other way into the room was to get Fiona to let me in. Going outside wasn't an option, as Colleen was doing some yard work just outside the window. The fact that she chose to work directly under the window of the room where Fiona locked herself in didn't surprise me in the least. I knocked again. "Fiona?"

An angry "go away" was all I got in reply. I decided the sincerity card wasn't exactly going to work today, so I switched to the hard voiced, sarcastic approach. "I would, except you're in my room." I replied, knocking. "Now open up, I gotta get a tampon." I heard the creaking of someone jumping off the bed and small feet walking on the soft, off-white carpet. A click followed shortly afterward and Fiona opened the door, a questioning look on her face.

"What's a tampon?"

"You'll know soon enough." I answered, shoving past her and walking towards the bathroom. "You can stay here as long as you need," I told her over my shoulder, taking a quick detour, closing and locking the window, "under one condition."

Fiona looked at me with the questioning look that she had on before. "What?"

"You tell me what's wrong between you and your mom. Be right back." And I shut the door. I came out several minutes later, finding Fiona staring at me from her perch on my bed. "So," I started, not sure where to begin, "how are you?" It seemed like a good question to start out with.

"Bad." Was her reply.

"Why do you feel bad?" I asked, grabbing the wicker chair in the corner and sitting down.

"Mom."

"Why does your mom make you feel bad?"

Fiona sighed and looked away from me, resting her chin in her hand, and staring at the floor. "She never listens to me. I keep telling her that I don't like pink, and do you know what she does? She gets me pink everything!" Fiona was suddenly on her feet, talking loudly and pacing. I was actually very tempted to pull out a notepad and a pen at this point, but held off the urge and sat quietly, listening. "Pink clothes, pink toys, and you've seen my bedroom!" She threw herself back onto the bed in frustration. "I'm at the end of my rope here, Axel. She insists I try to be more girl-like, but I'm as girly as I can get. I enjoy dolls. I like playing dress up and putting make up on. I'm just a girl who doesn't like pink or frills or lace. I prefer shorts to a skirt, sneakers to slippers."

"Sounds like me as a kid." I said aloud. "Actually, you remind me of a much younger me. Minus the fact that you don't have an over controlling father, and I don't have a mother who's a health nut." I cracked my knuckles. "OK look, how about we try this. Is there another color you like besides blue?"

Fiona sat up and thought for a second. "Well… I like green."

"Any certain type of green? Because some shades of green can be boyish or girlish."

"I like all kinds of green. Oh, and I like purple too." At this I struck an idea. The old Artist Erin started to kick in. Purple and green went together. My bedspread at my hanger in Britain had been purple and green, as had my walls and carpet.

"Fiona," I said after a few minutes, a smile crossing my face. "I think we might have a solution."

"You want me to redo Fiona's room?" Colleen looked rather perturbed that a hired hand was asking such a task, considering the money she put into it. "But I think her room is wonderful."

"Yes, but she doesn't think so." I answered, holding my sketchbook firmly in my hands. "She keeps telling you she doesn't like pink yet you keep giving her pink things. From what I understand, she ends up getting the clothes she now wears by trading them with friends at school. And I also believe it was your husband who took her to get her last pair of sneakers if I'm correct." Colleen sheepishly nodded. "OK, look," I continued, opening my sketchbook to the room design I had been working on for the past hour, "I talked with Fiona and we both decided that a feminine room was nice, but," I added, cutting Colleen off as she started to smile in defiance, "we also decided that the design and room color should be of Fiona's choosing." As Colleen's face fell, I whipped out my sketch. "This is the room design Fiona and I chose." Colleen took the sketchbook and pondered the design.

I had taken up several pages of my sketchbook to draw a complete 360-degree view of the room using one and two point perspective. The walls were a light lavender color with a light sea green wallpaper trim. The wooden trim near the floor was going to be the same color as the wallpaper trim, separating the walls from the very light lavender carpet. The bedspread was very similar to the sheets I had back in England, purple with emerald green and lavender sheets. The desk was painted lavender with sea green knobs, and a green desk lamp, complete with a purple swivel chair. A lavender wire shelf unit was pressed against the wall. Sea green curtains hung from the lone window.

"It's still in the works." I said, waiting for Colleen's reply. "Whatever you have a problem with, Fiona and I are willing to negotiate."

Colleen stayed silent for a few minutes before answering. "I…" She began, looking rather stunned. "I… LOVE IT! Where'd you become such a designer?" I just smiled and took the sketchbook. "Here, my credit card." She handed me a platinum credit card, a smile on her face. "Take the Jeep and take Fiona to go get paint. I'll start getting the room ready." And with that, she skipped towards Fiona's room and proceeded to rip things apart. I just sat there stunned until Fiona came out of my room, looking confused at the loud noises coming from her room.

"What the heck is going on, Axel?" She asked, walking up to me and grabbing a banana from the fruit basket on the counter.

I looked at the credit card in my hand, and then checked the purse I had strapped to my waist. I had a good portion of money left, and an idea formed in my head. I leaned towards Fiona and whispered in her ear. "We're going to go get paint for the room. Wanna grab a burger while we're out?" Fiona let out an excited squeal, a quiet one, and nodded. I smiled and lead her towards the hanger.

We came back a few hours later with paint, carpet and wallpaper samples, bedding, sandpaper, the wire shelves, a purple swivel chair, curtains and the curtain rod. Colleen had successfully gotten the room prepared, a thin film of white primer now covered the walls, blocking the pink that peeked out from the thinner spots. "What are you going to do with the bed sheets you originally had?" I asked, setting everything down.

"I'm going to sell them on the Internet." Was Colleen's only reply. "Did you two already eat while you were out? I made a cheese lasagna." But I was out of the room before she even finished the word cheese. Fiona and Colleen shared a giggle before walking out and joining me in the kitchen.

"Jeez, Axel, you ate a whole double cheeseburger, and now you're going to have a piece of lasagna?" Fiona giggled, unaware of her mother's angry and questioning glare. I noticed of course, and didn't answer, just heated the lasagna and started eating.

"You know Rowena," Colleen began, tapping her fingers on the kitchen counter, "Over eating could cause you…"

"Don't even finish that sentence." I said angrily, my mouth full of cheese and linguine. "One night of excessive eating isn't going to kill me. One burger after God knows how long isn't going to kill Fiona either. It's only when people eat that crap day after day does it harm their health." I swallowed. "It's all this health food that might end up killing your kids someday." I put my plate down and walked over to the fridge. I opened it and grabbed a package of tofu burgers. "I've gone through the dietary information of all this shit the other day. None of this stuff has the dietary recommendations of any proteins, carbs, iron or calcium. Nor does it have the adequate amount of fats and good cholesterol. I even called the kids doctor. None of them are getting the right amount of this stuff. I bet you didn't even research meal plans or foods or anything like that."

Colleen was stunned. "How did you…"

"I recently finished high school back home. Most of this junk is still in my head." I put the tofu burgers back in the fridge. "Look, I'll help you get your health on track. I'll even go grocery shopping with you. I can even teach you how to bake low fat cookies and cakes." Colleen looked intrigued. "Your family will love you for it. Speaking of family, I haven't seen the men all day since I spoke with Max this morning, where are they?"

"Max and Brian took the boys to see a movie. Vega's taking a nap." Colleen answered, putting her credit card back in her purse. "Beings we're alone this evening, did you want to go to the grocery store?" I shoveled the remainder of my lasagna and nodded.

The grocery store was about a twenty-minute drive, surprising considering we had been in the middle of the desert. It was eerily quiet, barely anybody was there. "Is it just me, or does it seem a little too quiet in here?" I asked, walking behind Fiona and Colleen as they made their way towards the butcher in the back. They didn't answer. The bad feeling chewing in the back of my mind didn't go away, and at that moment I was mentally kicking myself for leaving Ayrutana home. I did however have my Duel Death Dagger strapped to my waist. I rested my hand on it and looked around.

A woman on the far end of the store caught my eye and I gasped. I recognized her as Flame Tiger, the Backdraft pilot who had captured me earlier. Making sure I didn't draw her attention from what she was doing, I moved forward and pushed Fiona and Colleen into the aisle ahead of us. Colleen made a noise of protest, worried that I would wake Vega, but I silenced her with a stare. We didn't talk until we got to the meat section of the store. "What the hell was that all about?" Colleen asked, looking at me sternly.

"Just trust me that it was for your own good." I answered, looking in the direction where Flame Tiger was standing. She didn't seem to have noticed us, and she seemed preoccupied with something standing by her. I growled after figuring out whom she was talking to. It was Altair, in disguise of course, but it was him. Apparently, by the looks of it, they were grocery shopping. Thankfully they were standing in a check out line, so it wouldn't be long until they left. I made sure they were gone before I returned my attention to Colleen.

The girls looked confused but thankfully didn't ask. I looked down at the meat counter and took stock at what they had. "Fish is always a healthy source of protein." I said, pointing at the variety they had. "But for red meat, beef is good, but it does have a high fat content." I looked harder, before I landed on a pound of ground meat. I checked its sign. "How the hell do you people get bison meat!" I exclaimed, looking at the guy behind the meat counter.

He smiled. "We imported them from Earth. Bison meat is very popular here."

"I would guess so, but that might be why Earth's bison population has gone down an alarming rate." I said, and then I slipped. "I'm from Earth, and we used to have millions. Now we're only down to a few thousand."

Colleen and the Meat Clerk looked at me. "I heard of an Earth girl who recently abandoned her team after her team mate was killed." The meat clerk said, looking thoughtful. "No one's seen her in over a month. Know anything about her?"

I took a breath, trying to look thoughtful, checking in a nearby security mirror that I had remembered to change my eye color that day. "I know she's supposed to be blonde, blue eyed. Pilots a Shield Liger. Has a very ornate sword." I recited. I looked back at the Meat Clerk, making sure my eyes were shown, to point out that I now had green eyes. "Never met her, but I wouldn't mind seeing who was the better Zoid pilot." I grinned.

The Meat Clerk looked at me. "I swear you look almost just like her. I know you can dye hair, but that eye color…" He paused and then shook his head. "Anyway, would you like a couple pounds of the bison?"

I nodded and turned to Colleen. "If given the choice, go with bison meat. Less fat then beef, and tastes exactly the same." She nodded and gathered the meat. We got a couple pounds of fish, and then headed off towards the baking aisle.

After I sent Fiona off on a quest to find a large jar of applesauce, Colleen grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. "You know something more about that Blitz Team girl that you don't want known. Spill it." She demanded, a strict tone in her voice.

I looked up at her, my eyes equally stern, twisting my arm from her grasp. "I'll tell you this." I said, an icy tone in my voice. "I know why she left. She left because her teammate was killed because of her, and left to make sure no one else she cared about was hurt because of her." I flashed my eyes to their proper color briefly before continuing. "She doesn't want to feel that kind of pain again for a very long time." Colleen nodded and let go of me, turning her attention to a shelf of cake mixes.


End file.
